The Wrong Soul Mate
by cocovanilla
Summary: AU Kagome is a love goddess. When she tried to tie the love string around Inuyasha and Kikyou, it broke. Now she have to fly down to Earth and fix the problem as a mortal in disguise. But one thing she didn't know, Kikyou is not Inuyasha's soulmate.
1. The MixUp

This is my first Inuyasha's fanfic. This story idea is based on those Chinese's love goddess and other 'cupid' idea in Eastern and Southeastern Asia. The red string (I think this idea comes from China) is similar to the effect of a Cupid's arrow, except it was tied around the ankle.

[Note: I re-edited this chapter]

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha.

**The Wrong Soul Mate**

**Chapter 1: The Mix-Up**

She flew down to Earth softly as her eyes searched for a certain soul mates in the park. Many people walked by her, not noticing in the middle path stood a young woman dressed in a pink kimono. How could they? She was a goddess which at the moment was invincible. It would be lucky if a mortal get to see her with their own two eyes.

She smiled when she finally spotted two men and a woman sitting on a bench together. The petite woman sat at the far end of the bench, reading a book while the two men were reading a newspaper.

'_Let see..._' She took out a patch of paper and scanned it carefully. "Jane Kinomoto... and James Eaton." She looked up and saw the aura of both the woman and the man at the other opposite end of the bench glowed.

_'Kagome!_'

She turned around to see a brown dog barked happily at her.

"Poku! How have you been?" Kagome asked as she patted him gently on the head. Although mortals don't have the ability to see her, at least the animals can.

'_I'm fine as always Kagome! My master bought me a new collar today!_' His mind communicated with her.

She examined the shiny red collar around his neck. "Wow! That's beautiful." Then she looked at the little boy and his mom beside him, who was talking to another woman. "They are both nice to you, Poku."

'_Yeah._' He barked back. '_Are you on your next mission?_'

"Yep." She turned around to see the man in the middle of the bench walked off. "You see those two over there?"

Poku nodded.

"They are meant to be with each other. When the right moment appears, I have to tie the love string around their ankle to tie their bond as soul mates."

The woman's left hand started to move toward her coffee without looking away from her book. Her hand accidentally pushed the coffee causing the hot liquid to spill over the man's side.

Kagome pointed her index finger to their right ankles as a long red string appeared out of thin air, flies toward them. When the man was about to turn sideway to see the woman, the string was tied into a tight knot. They both looked up at the same time.

"I'm so sorry!!" She heard the woman apologized to him. "I'm such a klutz!"

"No it was just an accident." He smiled at her as she blushed. "I didn't like this pant that much anyway."

She handed him a cloth. "Still it's my fault."

How could he didn't notice her beauty when he sat down on the bench? He thought as he gazed into her eyes. "Then if you want to repay me for this ugly pant, would you have the honor to have lunch with me?"

The woman stuttered. "S-sure. I would love to!"

His smile never did left his face as he got up and lend a hand to her. "By the way, my name is James."

She gently grabbed his hand and got up. "My name is Jane."

Kagome smiled broadly, happy to accomplish her mission. She was known as the love goddess who tied the bond of soul mate at the east, but on the western side, they would call her cupid.

"Mission accomplished."

'_I'm glad._' Poku smiled at her. [AN: Can a dog smile?]

"Poku lets go." The little boy tugged on his leash.

'_I have to go now Kagome. See you again!' _He walked away with his master.

"Okay! You better be good Poku!" She waved to him.

'_I will!_' He barked as he disappeared at a corner with the boy and his mom.

Kagome's feet left the ground as she flew toward the cloud. In a few seconds, she landed safely onto a golden light pavement on the cloud. She walked past the beautiful garden that only grew in Heaven and into another stone pavement, passing a gate along the way.

Suddenly, a ball flew passed her swiftly, missing her head a couple of inches.

"The ball is getting away Saku!" A little boy run passed her.

"I'm sorry about that Kagome!" A little girl dressed in red kimono run up to her.

"That's okay, Saku, but next time aim somewhere else that is not close to my head." replied Kagome. Then realization hit her. Those two aren't supposed to play in the Matchmaking Section. "Takeo!"

She was too late; the ball smashed into the matching making stones that hung likes branches in the middle of the place. Fortunately, only three rectangle stones fallen. "Takeo!" She rushed to him, along with Saku behind her.

"I'm sorry, Kagome!! I didn't mean to!" Takeo's eyes widen as he clutched the ball tightly in his arms. He knew for one thing. When an immortal did something wrong, they were punished. He gulped. He just hoped that the punishment was not too harsh.

"This is not good!" Kagome picked up a stone that has the name 'Inuyasha Sakamoto' engraved in Ancient Chinese letters, and hung it back to the ancient tree.

"Saku and Takeo! What mischievous thing have ye done now?" An older female voice appeared behind them.

They all turned at the same time. "Lady Kaede!"

"Don't tell me you played around the Matchmaking section again!" She shook her head. '_Those two kids never learned their lesson do they?'_ They may be immortal, but their age hasn't reach maturity yet.

She walked toward them as the two children hid behind Kagome. "This is serious! If the soul mates are mix up, just think of the consequence? New babies will be born that are not even registered in the birth agency yet! And the babies that are supposed to be born with the two soul mates won't exist because the soul mates are mix up!"

"Did you understand half of what she was saying?" Takeo whispered to Saku who shook her head back.

Kaede shook her head and sighed. "Now ye two go play somewhere else. If I caught ye two playing here again, you two will be punish, understand?"

"Yes M'am." The children replied as they rushed out from the place.

"Saku and Takeo are just kids Lady Kaede." Kagome went back to look for the other two stones on the ground.

"They have been living for more than one hundred years now. They should know better. But if you count their age in mortal's age system, yes, they are kids." She sighed. "You should go check out those two out. They must be sulking somewhere."

"But I have to pick up those two--"

"Don't worry; I'll pick it up for you. Just hope the stone doesn't get mix up or something." She pushed Kagome softly out of the gate onto the gold pavement.

[AN: notice there's no plural after 'stone']

"Um, okay. But there are two stones that fell." Kagome turned around to see the emptiness of the gate of the Matchmaking Place. There was no trace of Lady Kaede. "I guess she will find it later." She walked off to find those two kids.

Kaede stood near the ancient tree, searching for the other stone until finally her eyes landed on a rectangular stone near a flower.

"Luckily, it wasn't lost." She picked it up and tied it back next to Inuyasha's stone with the red string. "The next soul mates..."

She walked off; not noticing another stone lied hidden beneath the flowers.

**AN:** The first chapter is done! The second chapter will be up soon!


	2. Broken String

Some of you have stated that this story is similar to The Perfect Mistake. I have read it and it's actually good, and yes some of our plots are quite similar, but on the contrary, I didn't made Inuyasha and Kikyou the perfect couple. Inuyasha's soul mate is someone else. For my story, I have collected some ideas from various Chinese and other Southeast's movies, and put them together. I was actually influenced by this one old movie I saw a long ago, where the goddess fall in love with the main guy, but he was destined to be the main girl's soul mate. It was actually touching though. Anyways, I do recommend for you guys to read The Perfect Mistake. Her skill in writing is better than mine.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha.

**The Wrong Soul Mate**

**Chapter 2: Broken String**

The other stone hung lifelessly against Inuyasha's as the string didn't turn bright red like it suppose to be.

Kagome's face leaned forward to the tree as she examined the stone, trying to find some dent mark that might have effect it. Nothing. Not even a smudge of dirt was on it. Her brows frowned.

When two souls are chosen to be soul mates, their names are engraved in a rectangle stone that appeared in the ancient tree. The stones are tied together around the edges with a red string, meaning they are ready to be soul mates. That is where Kagome's job comes next. It's her duty to fly down to Earth and tied the red string around their ankles to awaken their love for each other.

She pensively looked at the two stones. "Maybe it will glow when I'll tie it around their ankles." Maybe. She read the two names again, making sure. _'Sakamoto Inuyasha... and,'_ The female name was no other than _'Miyasaki Kikyou.' _

She then summoned a scroll to appear in front of her with a quill. "Sakmoto Inuyasha and Miyasaki Kikyou." She read out loud as the quill scribbled their names on the scroll by itself, and then disappears when it was done.

She grabbed and rolled the scroll and tucked it safely inside her kimono sleeve. Lastly, she untied the red string from the stones. It disappeared when it wrapped gently around her index finger.

She smiled as she walked to the edge of the pavement and jumped off.

* * *

"How many times do I have to tell you to _put_ that green plant near the edge of the water!" Inuyasha yelled to the poor girl, who nervously holding the plant. "Do you want to get fire?"

"S-sorry Sir." She nervously replied as she carried the pot of plant to the edge of the water platform.

"Calm down, Inuyasha. You're scaring all your workers now." A handsome man with a short ponytail stood beside him.

"I'm paying them to work, not to be a lazy bum like someone I _know_." Inuyasha quickly glanced at him.

"I'm hurt, Inuyasha." He raised his hands in defense. "You know I tried my very best to help you and this company to succeed as best as I can."

"You mean by groping our female workers?" He walked past him toward the bridge that lay across the huge water stream. This was after all a water amusement park.

"They didn't complain, right? Beside I'm helping them to release their stress."

Inuyasha turned around and faced him. "You mean like how Sango released her's?"

"She was born to be aggressive."

Inuyasha tried to hold his laughter. "Y-yeah." He turned around and walked across the bridge.

"Miroku!" A female voice shouted from Miroku's walkie-talkie.

"Speak of the devil." Miroku muttered.

"What's with all this models at the front of our counter!"

'_Even her voice sounds dangerous_.' He thought. "Oh, those models, I think it's a great way for them to help advertise our show."

"Come here Miroku!" Her voice boomed from the walkie-talkie.

"Yes, M'am." He walked off toward a building at the entrance.

Inuyasha shook his head after hearing those two conversations. "It would be a miracle if those two ever become a couple."

He walked toward one of the bench and fall tiredly on to it. It was hot, very hot indeed. '_Thank God to whoever invented shorts_.' He wouldn't even survive wearing a suit in this kind of weather.

He lifted up his water bottle and drank it thirstily. He was relief when the cold liquid gently washed away the dryness in his throat. He sighed as he tilted his head upward, but his eyes squinted later when the rays of the sun burned his face.

"Damn sun." He lifted his bottle again, but soon realized it was empty. "Damn!" He muttered as he walked off toward the building.

Kagome landed safely as she looked around, trying to find those two soul mates, but there were no one in sight. She took out the scroll and unrolled it. Just then, a young man with silver hair walked towards her.

The name Inuyasha started to glow. "So that's must be Inuyasha. But where is Kikyou?" She smiled when she spotted a woman with long black hair came out from a building and started to walk toward her. "Right on time."

They both turned at the same time at the corner, and crashed to each other. At this cue, Kagome pointed her index finger toward them as the red string wrapped around their right ankles. When it tried to form a bow, the string broke in half.

Kagome's eyes widen in horror.

"Hey wench, watch where you're going!" Luckily Inuyasha hold the wall from falling backward.

"Excuse me, you are mistaken. YOU'RE the one that crashed into me first!" Kikyou's eyes flared with anger as she rubbed her head.

"No, no. This is not supposed to happen!" Kagome shouted, but those two didn't seem to notice a young woman dressed in a kimono stood beside them.

"Look Lady. I think there's something wrong with your eyes because you sure can't read the sign CLOSED from the entrance." He smirked at her.

"I was actually looking forward for an apology from you, but then again, I guess a barbarian doesn't know how to apologize." Her eyes were cold, yet dangerous.

It already sent chills across Kagome's back, but it didn't seem to have the same effect on Inuyasha. "What you just called me!"

She smirked back when his smirk was wiped away from his face. "I think you hear me perfectly well unless there was something wrong with your ears."

"Why you--" Around another corner in front of him, he noticed one of the security man walking by. "Security!"

The man stopped, and turned around. He soon rushed toward Inuyasha when he spotted him.

"Yes Sir?"

"This woman is trespassing. Kick her out." He folded his arms in triumph.

The security grabbed her arms. "W-what! No, you can't do that!" She screamed at him. "You don't know who I am!"

"Apparently you don't know who I am too!" He smirked at her again.

She gave him one of her dangerous icy stare before she was dragged away.

Now that glare did send chill on his back, but he shook it off when he walked toward the door of the building.

"It had never happen before! Why now?" Kagome pick up the two broken strings. "This is not good. Not good at all."

* * *

"What's wrong, Lady Kaede?" Kagome asked as she showed the elder goddess and the kids the long red string that was now broken into two pieces.

Kaede examined the broken string. "This has never happen before! What happen, Kagome?"

"I don't know. I was tying the string around their ankles, and then suddenly, it broke!"

"Maybe you tied it too tightly Kagome?" Takeo asked.

"Takeo, every couple I have tied in the past was always tied tightly or else it will loosen, but this problem," She held the end of the string for him to see. "I have never encountered like this before!" She stared nervously at the string before letting it go.

"Hmmm." Kaede stared at the string pensively.

"What's wrong Lady Kaede?"

"I don't know exactly why, but the only thing that I know now is..." Kagome and the two kids leaned forward. "Ye have to go down to Earth and fix the problem yourself."

"What!" Their heads jerked back, swiftly.

"You have to disguise yourself as a mortal and fix the problem first." Kaede repeated herself again.

"Me? Dress as a mortal?" Kagome stared at her like she had two heads. "You're got to be a kidding?"

"Kagome is a goddess!" Saku replied. "You can't strip her immortality like that!"

"Yeah!" Takeo agreed.

"Whose say I was taking her immortality away from her?" Kaede looked at them. "This is the only way to fix it without the high councilors finding it out first."

Kagome shuddered to think what kind of punishment they will bestow to her if they find out about this incident.

"Okay. But--" Kaede pushed her toward the edge of the platform.

"Don't worry; you have these two over there to help you." She gave them Don't-you-mess-this-up look. "I'll stay here and try to find what's the problem is."

"But if I have to pretend to be a mortal, who will I stay with?"

"You will live with him of course, but you must disguise yourself as one of his roommate's long-distance cousin."

"What?" Kagome tried to stop the woman's strength from pushing her forward, but didn't succeed in doing so. She may look old, but boy, her muscular strength shouldn't be laugh at.

"By the way, Sango's long-distance cousin's name is Rin." Kaede added before she pushed her off the cloud.

"Huh?" Again her sentence was cut short as she felled toward Earth.

**AN:** I have this idea for Chapter Three, so stay tune for the next chapter! Thanks lilacks for noticing the errors on this chapter. I suck at grammer.


	3. Disguise as a Mortal

Some of you guys asked me what the big deal with the red string is. Like I stated before, it has the effect like a cupid's arrow. In my culture and some country in Asia had this belief about red string that bind the love bond between two people. I didn't make this string part up. I have to do a lot of research and asking parents about them.  
  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha. The wonderful Rumiko Takahashi owns it.  
  
**The Wrong Soul Mate  
  
Chapter 3: Disguised as a Mortal**  
  
Her once pink beautiful kimono had change into faded blue overalls with a light blue backpack strung across her shoulders, replacing the weight of her favored wrap. Kagome closed her eyes tightly as she fell swiftly from the sky. She wasn't afraid before, but she couldn't help feeling that way now.  
  
The next thing she knew, she was hanging for dear life on a high-up branch of a too-tall tree. Her legs and arms wrapped around the branch, instinctively, for fear of falling. If anything, she did remember what mortals did when they are put in this kind of situation. She screamed.  
  
---  
  
Inuyasha walked out from the shadow of the building, feeling refreshed and cool. After a nice nap and a cup of cold water with ice inside the lounge, he felt more relaxed than ever. In addition to that, it was time to go back home. Life didn't get any better than getting a nice cold shower to wash away the sweat and grit from a day's work. Inuyasha thought as he walked toward the parking lot. Suddenly he heard a scream from the food court. He stopped and looked back. The Park was closed. No one was supposed to be there.  
  
"Help!" A female voice rang across the empty amusement park.  
  
Inuyasha rushed towards the source of the sound, and saw nothing in the secluded court. He came to an abrupt stop and glanced around. "I must be hearing things," he told himself.  
  
He spun around and started to walk back to the parking lot.  
  
"Wait!"  
  
Inuyasha turned around slowly, looking back into the empty food court, and saw nothing. "The heat must be getting to me."  
  
"Hey you!" The female voice shouted.  
  
"Where are you?" His eyes scanned the court again.  
  
"Up here!"  
  
Inuyasha look up and saw a young woman clutching a branch for dear life. "What are you doing up there?" He shouted at her. "The amusement park is closed!"

"I can't get down. Can you help me?" Kagome asked, knowing the small branch wouldn't be able to hold her much longer.  
  
"And why should I?" He turned around, to give the effect that he didn't care, but didn't walk away.  
  
"Because you're a man!" She shouted. That got his attention. "A man is supposed to save the damsel in distress."  
  
He hesitated before turning around again, and muttered one word: "Jump."  
  
"What?" She blinked a couple of times.  
  
He rolled his eyes as he stretches his arms in a great show of boredom. "I said jump, Wench."  
  
"How do I know you will catch me?" Kagome looked down at the man, ignoring the 'wench' part. The ground seemed so very far away.  
  
"You don't. But don't worry, I will catch you." A pause. "Look I'm getting impatient here."  
  
"You will promise, right?" She gazed into his eyes. "If you lie, I will curse you!" '_And I will make sure those curses are painful._' She thought.  
  
"Yes. Now jump!" he was a little confused by the 'curse' part, but said nothing of it.  
  
"Okay, okay." She took a deep breath before reluctantly letting go _her_ branch. Her eyes closed tightly as she felt the rush of wind moved swiftly around her. It ended quickly, though, for she felt two masculine arms holding her from harms way, more commonly known as the ground.  
  
She opened one eye than the other, testing her sight. "See? I told you I would catch you." He let her go rather roughly.  
  
"Oww!" She rubbed her bottom and stared menacingly at him. He only glanced at her before walking away without even saying a word.  
  
"Hey!" She got up and run after him. He ignored her as he kept on walking, briskly making his way towards his car.  
Kagome was furious. She was never ignored before. She stood in front of him, blocking his way to the parking lot.  
  
He stopped. "Look I've saved you already, so go away." He tried to move around her, but she side-stepped and blocked him again.  
  
She glared at him. "That was rude of you!"  
  
"Rude of me?! You didn't even say 'thank you' to me, and you call me rude!"  
  
She blinked a couple of times at him, testing his words in her mind. He finally moved around her. "And I didn't even ask you how you got into that tree in the first place!"

He was right. Well, not actually right. She ran after him toward the parking lot. He twisted a key into the lock and the car door clicked in a relieving manner.  
  
"Wait!"  
  
'_Not again_.' He opened the door quickly, hoping he could get away from her as quickly as possible. Just as he was about to close the door, her hand intervened, and he was unable to close it without smashing her fingers.

"What the hell?" He shouted. "Do you want your hand to be chopping off or something?"  
  
"Sorry." She bit her bottom lip before saying, "Thank you." She smiled at him.  
  
Inuyasha only stared at her, bewildered by her action. No one was that nice after they were called _wench_. That is, no one that he knew.  
  
"Hey why do you have a small statue of a jaguar on your car?" He snapped back to reality.  
  
"Hey don't touch that!" He got up and rush toward her. "It's expensive! I don't want your smudgy finger prints all over it!" He took out a cloth and wiped away the fingerprints from his tiny silver jaguar. "Didn't your mother teach you not to touch other people's property?"  
  
He turned around to face her, but she wasn't there. "What the-?""This is a comfy seat!" Her voice echoed from inside his car.  
  
He went and grabbed her out of his car. "Get out!"  
  
"Hey!" She tried to protest, but his grip was too strong for her.  
  
"First that other wench, then this one. I swear God is punishing me for cursing that sun." He mumbled as he got into his silver car. Before he closed his door, he looked at her. "You're welcome. Now good bye!" He closed   
the door on her and drove off.

The sky started to darken as he turned a corner. He thought he wouldn't see her again, but boy, was he wrong. When she suddenly appeared standing in front of him, he nearly had a heart attack.  
  
He automatically stepped onto his brake, and as the car came to a sudden halt, Inuyasha breathed rapidly. She doesn't appear to be standing anymore.  
  
"Please let her be okay. Please, please." Inuyasha got out and walked slowly to the front of his car. "If anything happen to you, I'll be dead."  
  
The young woman he saw earlier was lying unconsciously on the cold pavement.  
  
He got down on both knees and checked her pulse. '_She's breathing alright_.' He sigh a relief, knowing she was still alive, he looked around, making sure there weren't any witness out there, but the street appear to be empty   
and quiet.  
  
"I can't leave you here," Inuyasha told the girl, knowing full well she couldn't hear him. "You should be lucky that it wasn't some other guy."  
  
He managed to open the passenger's door, and he gently lay her down on his leather seat. He drew in his breath before letting her go. '_Lavender._' Her hair smelled like lavender with a different unique scent that he couldn't quite think of.  
  
He closed the door and walked back to the driver's side. He gazed at the nameless girl once again before speeding off down the road, and closer to home.

_  
Twenty minutes later..._  
  
Inuyasha slammed the car door and mentally flinched. '_My poor car_,' he thought sadly to himself. He hoisted the girl in his arms, adjusting her so it would be easier to carry her not-at-all heavy bulk. Kicking open his door, her took in his surroundings. Supposedly coming home to an empty house, he laid the girl on his leather couch, and started talking to her again,

"You stay here while I go get you an Advil, okay?" He walked to the stairwell behind him, and climbed the stairs to the second floor.  
  
When the echoes of his footsteps decrease, Kagome cracked open one eye and then the other slowly, as if she wasn't quite ready to see where he had taken her.  
  
'_Coast is all clear_.' She sat up straight and looked around, examining her surroundings. To her left was a small dining room and to her right was the main door, but behind her were the stairs that the man must have stomped up.  
  
She stood up and walked toward the dining room, then to the kitchen. '_Wow, it's spotless. Lady Kaede would be proud_.' She then walked toward another hallway that led her back to the living room.  
  
"It's a nice place." She said to herself before ascending the stairs.  
  
Meanwhile in his room, Inuyasha grabbed a handful of different pain relievers, mostly Advil and Tylenol, and he also grabbed bandages from his bathroom shelves. He walked out of his room and went back downstairs.  
  
When he got there, she wasn't in the couch. "I told her to stay here!" He growled, throwing the bottles and bandages onto the couch before walking toward the kitchen, only to see nothing but dishes and pans.  
  
'_That leaves..._' He looked up at the ceiling, mentally groaning. '_Upstairs._' He rushed toward the stairs and into the first room.  
  
It was Miroku's. Only pictures of super models hung on the walls, and a book shelf graced with various books and tapes stood by the four poster bed in the center of the room, but no wench.

Seeing how she wasn't in Miroku's room, he decided to dash into Sango's room. But she wasn't there either. She wasn't even in his room, or the bathroom, or the various closets. It seemed she wasn't anywhere. He didn't know why she would be in a closet, but had decided to look anyways. So that left one place he hadn't checked yet-the roof.  
  
---  
  
Kagome stared at the parrots through the cage. "Do you like it here?" She asked.  
  
The beautiful blue-feather parrot replied back, _'Yesss, Master is kind, if not misunderstood. Sometimessss he is frustrated, and speaks with a rotten mouth. But no harm, he means well.'_

"You're right about the bad mouth part." She mumbled, remembering the times he had been rude.  
  
'_You will certainly enjoy it here, Goddess. But beware of Miroku_.'

She frowned. "Why?"

'_The houshi is a lecher, no pleassssant way of saying it. He enjoys a woman's body, and has no respect for the wishes of those women. The one, Sango, has it the worssst_,' The lispy parrot informed her.

She thought of this for a moment. She had never been groped. But from the way it was described, it wasn't an enjoyable thing. Not at all desirable to the respectable woman.  
  
"Wench!" Inuyasha's voice announced his presence behind her.  
  
She turned around to meet with the furious hanyou.  
  
"I can't believe I was fool to believe you were unconscious!" He glared at her. "I was a fool!" He spat the word with disgust, partially stunning Kagome.  
  
Before she could respond back, he grabbed her arms and dragged her back inside. "You're coming with me!"  
  
"Oww, that hurts! Let go!" She tried to wiggle her arm free, but Inuyasha's hold on her poor limb was too tight.  
  
Inuyasha dragged her carefully down the stairs, making sure she wouldn't stumble, and fall on him along the way. He wanted her to leave before Sango or Miroku could even see him with her in the same room. He knew if he didn't, he would never hear the end of it from Miroku.Too late, the door was open when they reached the living room.  
  
"Sango, those super models can help and make the amusement park more popular!" Miroku called, closing the door behind him.  
  
"Miroku, the only why you want us to hire them is so you can have your own personal grope sticks, and believe me, those girls are no more than STICKS!!" Sango angrily replied back.  
  
"Sango, Sango, if you were that jealous, I will only grope yo-" He stopped when he saw Inuyasha. Strange, he thought, why is he holding that girl?Sango was also speechless as she stared at them.  
  
"Um, guys, I can explain." Inuyasha replied.  
  
"Inuyasha, I didn't know you were that busy!" He patted him on the shoulder. "You sly dog sneaking a young girl in here! You should have called. We would have given you a minute or two, or at least knocked before coming in."'_Ah, so that must be Miroku_.' Kagome stared at him, remembering what Tori, the parrot, warned her about. '_And that woman must be Sango. Poor thing can hardly hide her love for the man_.'  
  
[AN: tori mean 'bird' in Japanese. I'm lousy at naming things.]  
  
"I'm not like that!" he explained, stepping away from Kagome. "I just found her in the food court!"  
  
"Oh, so that's where you do your business." Miroku shook his head. "I didn't need to know that, but you can give me the details later... if you want that is."  
  
"Miroku!" Sango yelled at him. "Stop this nonsense." She turned to look at Inuyasha. "Explain."  
  
Inuyasha open his mouth to speak, but Kagome cut in.  
  
"Sango!" Kagome ran toward her and hugged her. It was pretty much one-sided since Sango was too shocked to do anything about it, except stare at Inuyasha, confused.  
  
"What the hell?" Inuyasha asked, bewildered by the girl's action.  
  
"Remember me?" Kagome finally released her. "It's me, Rin. Your long-distance cousin from Osaka!"

   
"Rin?" Sango stared at her. "But last I checked, Rin, you were only this tall." Sango lowered her hand for emphasis, just to show that 'Rin' was only about half her height.

"But Sango that was a long time ago. I grew up! It has been a while, you know. You don't keep in touch very well."  
  
"Hold on." Inuyasha cut in. "You can't just barge in and say you're Rin! You don't even have proof that you are her!"  
  
"Um..." Kagome tried to think a way out of it when suddenly Takeo appears behind Inuyasha with an envelope. He smiled at her before he put it on the end table next to the couch, and then disappeared. "Yeah I do! I've sent you a letter, to remind you I was coming."  
  
"Really? Then why didn't we see it!?" Inuyasha barked back.  
  
"Um, Inuyasha, here's the envelope from Rin." Miroku showed him the envelope that he found lying on the table.  
  
Inuyasha tore it and read the letter with Sango and Miroku reading over his shoulder.  
  
"It must have arrived late to inform you guys of my arrival." Kagome responded.  
  
"So what?" He looked up at her after he was done reading it. "You could have seen it while I was upstairs, and later you just said you were Rin!"   
  
Kagome was somewhat baffled as to what to do next, so she leaped over to Sango's side and tugged on her arm, "Cousin, do you not remember me at all?"

A small child that evidently, only Kagome could see appeared to her left. It was Saku. She looks behind her.

   
'_Check_ _your backpack. In it is a gift from Sango to Rin, from when she was six. Its name is Toby._' She said before disappearing into thin air.

'_Lucky those mortals can't see those two, or we'd have no choice but to brainwash them_.'  
  
"What? You can't find anything to back you up?" Inuyasha smirked at her.  
  
She narrowed her eyes at him. "In a matter of fact, yes I do." She dropped her backpack on the couch, and unzipped it. She smiled when she took out a huge brown teddy bear and show it to them. "Remember this, Sango? You gave me Toby on my sixth birthday!"  
  
They wonder how the huge teddy bear managed to fit into her small backpack without looking squashed out and flat.  
  
Sango's eyes widen with joy at the sight of it. "Of course I remember, Rin! I gave it to you on your sixth birthday!" She jumped and hugged her tightly. "We named him Toby together!" She finally let her go and gazed at her carefully.  
  
"Wait, hold on. How do we know she is actually Rin?" Inuyasha asked. "There are many bears out there that are similar to this one!"  
  
"I didn't know you have a beautiful cousin, Sango." Miroku responded as he inched closer to her.  
  
"Miroku, if you dare touch her, I swear I will slap you to China!" Miroku move back to his spot. "And for your information Inuyasha, this is the exact teddy bear that I've given to Rin a long time ago! And plus, we both named it Toby together. It's not a coincidence for another person to buy the exact same bear and named it the exact name that we given it together."  
  
Inuyasha was speechless. He doesn't know any good remark at the moment beside, "Keh."  
  
Sango smiled at Kagome. "You must be hungry now after that long journey from Osaka to Tokyo." She dragged her by the arm to the kitchen. "I make you something to eat, Rin."  
  
Miroku tilted his head as he watches the girls, ahem, their bottoms, go into the kitchen. "She sure has a nice butt." He comments before following them.  
  
"Miroku, I swear, you want to get slapped by Sango, again." Inuyasha replied as he walked into the kitchen.  
  
_A few minutes later..._  
  
Sango put the dishes of meal on the dining table after she gave each person a bowl of cooked rice.  
  
Kagome gawk at the many dishes in front of her. Their aroma had made her begin to drool. In her life as a goddess, she never did once eat a mortal's food. When the gods and the goddess in heaven were hungry, they only think of food. After that, they are full.  
  
Well, Kaede did told her to act like a mortal, so eating real food won't be any trouble. Beside, if she didn't eat, they will get suspicious.  
  
Inuyasha stared at her, still unconvinced that she is Rin, Sango's cousin, but shook it off when the aroma filled his nostrils.  
  
"Wow, we didn't have this much food since..." Miroku stop to think. "Dear God, I must be getting old not to even remember the day when we have this much food before!" He turned to Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, can you see any white hair on me?!"  
  
"If I did see one, I won't tell you." He replied as he took a piece of chicken into his bowl with a chopstick.  
  
Kagome chuckled. "Don't worry, Miroku you still look as young as always."  
  
"Thank you, Rin. Now if you want me to repay you,"  
  
"Ahem." Sango cleared her throat before speaking. "Rin, you should try this. It's tempura, your favorite!" She dropped a shrimp tempura at her bowl.  
  
"Thank you." Kagome look at it. '_It does look delicious_.'  
  
"Sango, I won't do anything that might offend our dear Rin." Miroku look shock. "I was about to give her this piece of beef." He dropped a cooked beef into her plate.  
  
Both Sango and Inuyasha rolled their eyes.  
  
"So Rin, how old are you now?" Sango asked.  
  
"Well..." Kagome deliberated for awhile. '_Let's see, I'm more than a hundred, about five hundred and nineteen, so that's makes me around the age eighteen in human's standard_.' She thought to herself, before finally answering, "Eighteen."  
  
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "That's why, you seem immature." He comments before taking a bit of a piece of chicken.  
  
"Inuyasha!" Sango shouted.  
  
"That's okay Sango; I guess some people are just like that." Kagome look at him, and then back at Sango with a smile. "People who don't know how to shut up."  
  
Inuyasha chocked as he took a sip of water. "W-what?!"

"You haven't touched your food yet, Rin!" Sango immediately changed the subject. "You don't like it?"  
  
"No, it's not that," Kagome stared at her bowl that was filled with cooked rice, a shrimp tempura, and a piece of beef that Miroku gave to her.  
  
She counted to five before she pick up the shrimp tempura with her chopstick and held it firmly near her mouth. '_Here's goes nothing_.' Her first bite of food.  
  
Kagome's eyes widen when she chew it. "It's delicious!" She took another bite of the other food on her plate.  
  
"I'm glad that you like it, Rin." Sango smiled before taking a bite of her food.  
  
"If I didn't know that food were this delicious, I would have eaten it a long ago." She took another tempura from the plate. "What's this called again?"  
  
Sango was surprised. "It's called tempura. How could you not know if that was your favorite food?"  
  
"I forgot that's all." Kagome took a bite of rice. "And this?"

   
"Cooked rice." Miroku answered. '_Maybe the people in __Osaka__ don't eat cooked rice_. _Nah that can't be it_.'

"Wow! You know I've never eaten food like this before. I mean I never even tried eating a mortal's food." Kagome replied as she took another bite.  
  
Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha stared at her like she had two heads growing beside her neck.  
  
"What?" They replied together in unison.  
  
It hit her. She was to pretend like a human, not a goddess on vacation. "Um..." She lowers her head as she tries to think of a convincing answer. "I mean I was in the train for a long time, and I kind of forget what it is like to eat real, delicious food like yours Sango."  
  
"Oh, I see." They went back to eating.  
  
Kagome sigh a relief. '_That was close_.'  
  
She went back eating, well, actually, gorging the food, as they stared at her as she finished the first bowl, her second, her third, the list goes on and on until the tenth bowl, she was full.  
  
"That was delicious Sango!" She rubbed her tummy, and then burped. "Oops, sorry."  
  
"That's okay." Sango and Miroku took the empty plates from the table. "If you like my food so much, then it will be my excuse to make you more."  
  
"Really?!" Kagome's eyes brighten with joy.  
  
She nodded as she went to the kitchen with Miroku, leaving Inuyasha and her alone.  
  
"You know for a girl, you sure can eat a lot." He replied.  
  
"I take that as a compliment." Inuyasha only shook his head as he got up and went to the bathroom, just down the hall from the dining room.  
  
She stood up and walked toward the living room. It's time for exploring again. The last time, she didn't even get to explore around because of a certain someone.  
  
She climbed up the stairs and check all of the rooms (except the one at the far end), including the closets. She finally reached the last room in the hallway and pushed the door in. It was a lot bigger than the other two bedrooms she saw earlier. A King size bed was in the middle of the room with navy sheets, a big heap of covers and pillows were piled on top of it, and another door at the far end of the room lead to another bigger bathroom.  
  
She was astonished by how luxurious the room actually was. Along the wall toward the right side of the bed, hung a fairly old sword. 'Somebody must really enjoy collecting swords. 'She yawned and slowly stumbled toward the bed. 'I hope no one minds if I sleep a bit.' She lay on the silk covers; amazed how soft it is, and worked the tangled blankets around her body. And soon enough, she was asleep.  
  
---  
  
Inuyasha walked out from the bathroom and went to the dining room, only to see that Rin wasn't there anymore. "She must be helping Sango do the dishes." Not even bothering to go see if she was actually in the kitchen, he went upstairs. "I need a shower."  
  
He walked towards his room, taking his time, until he noticed that his door was open. '_Didn't I close it?_' He shook his head as he walked in, but stopped halfway across the room as he finally noticed the out-of-place lump on his bed, and decided to investigate.

He finally realized it was her. "Get off my bed!"

Kagome automatically jerked upward, hitting Inuyasha's head along the way. "Oww." She rubbed her forehead.

"Wench!"

She looked at him, and noticed he was also rubbing his forehead. "What was that for?" She angrily shouted at him.

"Why are you doing in my bed in the first place?" He barked back.

Sango happened to be passing by the door and heard all the yelling. Quickly realizing what was going on she rushed towards her cousin. "Rin!" then she noticed Rin was holding her head. "What did you do to her, Inuyasha??"

"What did I do? I didn't do anything! She was the one who was in my bedroom without my permission in the first place!"

"I didn't know it was your bedroom! There was no sign that said: 'Inuyasha's Sleeping Palace, do not enter' on the door!" Kagome glared back.

"Why you little--"

"Inuyasha." Sango stood in front of him with a warning voice, then turn around to face Kagome. "Rin let's go to my bedroom instead. It's a lot safer in there."

Kagome got up and then followed her out of his room. "Tori was right, he does have anger management problems." She mumbled before she left.

"I heard that!" Inuyasha shouted behind her. She didn't answer back. Maybe she didn't hear him, or maybe she did, but chose to ignore it. '_Wait, how does she know Tori's name?_'

"Inuyasha, how could you just refuse, a young, beautiful maiden? Especially while she is on your bed, alone and vulnerable," Miroku put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Miroku." His voice sounds dangerous.

"Oh I think Sango called me a minute ago." Inuyasha didn't hear Sango call him… "I think I better go see what she wants," Miroku excused himself from the room.

"Two wenches in one day, it must be a curse." Inuyasha rubbed his temples.

---

"I'm sorry, Sango."

"That's okay. You didn't know it was Inuyasha's room." Sango replied as she got ready for bed. "It's not much, but at least my bed can fit two people on it."

It didn't feel soft and silky like Inuyasha's but at least it was comfortable.

Kagome smiled at her. "Thank you."

She only smiled in return as she walked out. "I'm going to brush my teeth okay?" Not waiting for an answer, she left.

Kagome chuckled when she heard a slap from the hallway.

"Those two are meant to be together." Earlier she saw the red string around their ankles. "But it will be awhile for Sango to admit her true feelings for him." She sighed as she lay down on the bed. "I hope everything will be alright tomorrow," she whispered before sleep had claimed her.

**AN:** You don't know how many times, I have to type Rin instead of Kagome in this chapter. Well, I have to get used to writing like that for awhile. This chapter is quite longer than the rest, but I think the next chapter might be shorter, though. I don't know yet, but at least I finished writing this chapter.

**Special thanks to:** lovinsesshomaruisnteasy, my beta


	4. Meet Again

Sorry for the long delay for this chapter. I was waiting for my beta to check this, but I think she's busy at the moment. I don't mind. School and my social life have taken me away from finishing this chapter, too. I'm sometimes lazy at some occasion, but I still remember my responsibility for finishing this story. Don't worry, there are plenty of more chapters coming up. If you notice, there will be plenty of errors in this chapter at the moment. It's my third drafts that's why. First, writing, and then typing it on Notepad, then correcting it as I pasted it into Microsoft Word. I might change a few things later when I have the time, though.

'...' Either that person is talking in their mind, or communicating with someone through their mind.

**Disclaimer:** Do I own Inuyasha? Hold on. (at the moment, calling Rumiko Takahashi to buy the story from her… after a _nice_ conversation with her, she told me to buzz off and hang up on me) I think the answer is a 'no.'

**The Wrong Soul Mate**

**Chapter 4: Meet Again**

Inuyasha yawned as he slowly walked toward the stairway. Last night he hadn't slept well because of a certain raven-haired someone. He quickly glances at Sango's door before descending down the stairs.

He had an awful dream last night that involved her eating him. All he could remember was being in a huge bowl filled with ramen noodles, and the next thing he knew, a familiar voice shouted, "Yummy!" from above. He looked up to see Kagome dipping a fork to the bowl and lift a screaming Inuyasha to her mouth. After that, he woke up with sweats on his forehead.

He shuddered as he walked toward the kitchen. "It was only a dream..." He muttered.

"What's only a dream, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked as he walked in from behind.

"Nothing." He pours a cup of black coffee into his mug as he walked towards the breakfast table while Miroku pour a box of Kellogg's' Berries cheerio to a bowl.

"Speaking of dreams, I had a wonderful dream last night." He smiled as he sat next to him with a bowl of cheerio and a mug filled with coffee. "Do you want to know what happen?"

Inuyasha paused before taking a sip of his coffee. "Don't tell me, it involved a beautiful woman doing God knows what to you."

Miroku chuckled. "Nope, that was actually the other night."

Inuyasha raised one of his brows at him. He always wonders what happen to Miroku when he was young. Maybe he was surrounded by many women in his youth, but last he could remember, he only lived with his mom back then.

"Good morning." Sango walked in yawning as she open the refrigerator.

"Good morning, Sango!" Miroku chirped as he watched her perfect rear stick out from the refrigerator. He turned around with that smile still on his face. Before he took a bite of his cheerio, he leaned toward Inuyasha and whispered. "I had a dream that Sango," He quickly glanced at her, making sure she couldn't hear him. "confessed her love for me."

There were no surprised there. Everyone knew that Miroku has a thing for Sango, but the poor man couldn't take his hand away from groping other women. "And then you two made love." Inuyasha added.

"Nope, we talked about our feelings." He took a bite of his cheerio.

"Guy talk?" Sango asked as she sat the opposite of him with a strawberry yogurt and a spoon in her hand.

"Something like that."

"Good morning everybody!" Kagome broadly smiled as she skipped into the kitchen.

"Good morning Rin. Did you have a nice sleep last night?" Sango asked before licking the creamy pink yogurt off the spoon while Miroku stared lustily at it.

"Yep. I had a wonderful dream last night. I was dreaming that I was eating this junk of food on the table." She smiled at them.

A tingling feeling quickly moved across his back as Inuyasha remembers that dream last night.

"Where's the bowl?" Kagome asked as she searches through the cabinet.

"It's in the far right near the hanging goblet." Sango answered.

Kagome opened the cabinet and took out a white bowl, then walked towards Miroku. "May I?" She pointed to the box of cheerios and milk carton lying next to him.

"Of course, Rin."

She pours the box of cheerio into her bowl and then the milk.

"Inuyasha, why do you have circle beneath your eyes?" Sango asked as she leaned forward to examine it.

"Keh. My idiot brother called me in the fricken morning to remind me of how important today is." He growled.

Miroku sighed. "Today is the day with the clients."

"It's already enough that I have to work with him, but having him as my alarm clock is too much." He replied.

"What's so special about today?" Kagome took a bit of her cheerio. She almost sighs as she munches on it. '_I should visit foreign countries more often_.' She thought.

Miroku lower his spoon. "Well today is the day he," He pointed his thumb at Inuyasha. "will meet with one of his clients. If things go well, they might sign the contract with his company, well not entirely his company; half of it does belong to his older brother, Sesshoumaru, who's living in a different house."

"Oh I see." Kagome crunch into the cheerios again. "Can I come, too?"

"No! If things screw up, he will try to blame me for it." Inuyasha barked. "Beside, I don't think your appearance will make any thing better."

"Why you!"

She was about to throw her spoon to his face when Sango hold the spoon before it flies off to a certain hanyou. "Inuyasha I don't think Rin will cause any trouble there. Beside I can't let her stay in the house alone. She will die of boredom."

"Come on Inuyasha. Rin is soo innocent, soo young, soo," Miroku responded.

"Ahem." Sango managed to make a fake cough.

"Fine, as long she doesn't get in the way," Inuyasha replied as Kagome broadly smiled at him.

"I'll be good!"

"Just hope it last." He got up and walked toward the main hallway.

"By the way, can you bring Rin with you?" Sango asked before he walked out from the kitchen.

"What?" He spun around and glared at her.

Sango got up and throw the empty yogurt cup into the garbage. "Miroku and I have to drive to Stevenson Building to get the board."

"No way in hell I would drive her!"

Sango rubbed her forehead.

Kagome glared at him. Maybe Lady Kaede won't mind if she turns him into a dog. Or maybe a fish.

"Fine. I guess if you don't have the ability to drive with Rin, I can find somebody else who can." She turned around as she mentally counted three, two, and one.

"Okay fine."

'_Bingo._' She smiled.

"It's only I have to. Hurry up wench!" He walked to the main door.

"But I haven't finished my breakfast yet!" Kagome shouted.

"I'm leaving without you!" His voice echoed in the hallway.

"Okay, okay." She got up and ran after him.

Sango sighed as she took Kagome's and Miroku's bowl to the sink.

"Hey I wasn't finish!" Miroku protest, but was reward with a glare.

"If you haven't left that board in the Stevenson Building, maybe you have time to finish eating your cheerio. Let's go."

"You know," He got up and walked towards her. "Feisty woman does turn me on."

"Miroku." Her voice was dangerous as she walked to the main door.

'_Someday Sango, you will confessed your feelings to me_.'He smiled as he walked behind her while his hand started to twitched again.

Slap.

'_Well it will take a long time before she confess to me._' He rubbed his bruise cheek.

---

It was silence as Inuyasha drive to his destination, well it wasn't dead silence when the radio was tune on.

Kagome quickly glance at him as he focuses his gaze onto the road in front of him. He hasn't uttered a word for the past fifteen minutes already. She was getting patience at every minute passing by. Awkward silence wasn't one of her I-like-moments.

"So what do you do?" She responded.

He hesitated before answering. "I own half of the Sakamoto's Water Amusement Park."

It wasn't the answer she was looking for, but she was glad that he'd said something. "Oh." She nodded showing she understood. "That must be fun. You'll get to go on rides almost every day."

"It's not about having fun. It's about making the big bucks from people's satisfaction." He turned the wheel to the right.

"Life is not about money. It's about enjoying your life with love, friendship--"

"You can't live on love." He interrupted her. "You need money to survive."

"But--"

"Can you buy food from love? Can you buy a place to stay with love?"

Kagome open her mouth to speak, but he cut in again.

"No I don't think so." He turned the wheel into a parking entrance. He slows down as his car reaches a booth with an old man inside.

"Good morning, Mr. Sakamoto." The old man replied. "Nice day, isn't it?

"Good morning, Greg. Yes it is."

"Who do we have here? A beautiful young lass with you." He smiled at her as he presses a button to lift up the wooden pole in front of the car.

She smiled. '_What a nice man_.'

"She just Sango's cousin that's all. Nothing to worry about." He slowly drove forward. "It's not like she is a super model or anything."

"Hey!" Kagome glared at him.

He finally parks his car and turn to face her. "Today is important, so don't try to annoy me. If anything goes wrong,"

"Yes, I know. It will be my fault if anything bad happens." She cut him. "Jeez, you think it's the end of the world if your client wasn't impressed with your work or something." She got out of the car before Inuyasha could say anything.

"Wench." He muttered as he locks his car and then walked toward a building.

She follows him, staying an arm length distance away. She finally took notice of his Armani black suit with a silk dark red shirt and a black tie inside.

'_Underneath his mouth, he does look nice_.' She mentally slapped herself as her mind betrayed her. '_What am I thinking_?'

The door to the entrance of the building slides open when Inuyasha walked close to it. Kagome was amazed by it. He didn't even utter a word to open and the door just slide by itself.

'_Must be some sort of magic_.' She thought as she walked pass it. It slides back to shut itself when she was two feet away. She turned around and walked out of the building as it slides open again. She walked back inside, then outside before it slide close again. She repeatedly did this to know if it will slide on her.

"It won't even trap me!" She exclaimed unaware of others looking at her strangely as she hopped back and forth between the sliding doors.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha stood in front of the elevator, waiting for it to descend on this floor. '_Why is it soo quiet all a sudden?_' He turned around, but didn't see Rin behind him.

"Not again!" He looks around. "Where is she?"

He walked back toward the main entrance, searching for her. He finally spotted her jumping back and forth between the automatic entrance doors. He rushed towards her and grabbed her arm inside.

"What are you doing?" He asked gruffly. "People are staring!"

Kagome gaze around to see some of the workers and receptionists stopped to look at her.

"Come on." He dragged her arm to the elevator hallway as their eyes followed them.

"Oww. Let go of me!" She tried to pull backward, but his grip was too strong for her.

He finally let go as Kagome fall backward out of reflect.

"That hurt you know?!" She glares menacingly at him.

"Stop your whining. You're embarrassing me enough already." He said as he walked into the elevator. She stays where she was as he stomp his feet impatiently for her.

"Hurry up wench."

She folded her arms and look sideway. "I have a name you know?"

He rolled his eyes. "I could leave you here you know? The elevator won't wait for you."

"If you leave me alone then Sango will kill you if she knows about this."

"What did I ever do to deserve this?" He muttered as he walked toward her and held his hand out.

She only stares at it.

"I don't have cooties if you're thinking about it."

She finally holds his hand as he lifts her up to her feet. He quickly let go as he walked back to the elevator.

Her cheeks started to redden as she gazes into her right hand. She had never been touch by the opposite sex of a mortal before, not counting Takeo or animals, but this was her first real touch from a male mortal. "_Wait. What about that time when he carried me to his house? Does that count?_"

"Are you going or what?" His voice interrupted her training of thoughts.

She rushed forward and stood next to him as the elevator door finally close behind her.

_Few minutes later..._

Inuyasha walked out from the elevator as Kagome trail behind him. She thought the magical sliding door was great, but the elevator was way better. The only down side about that fun trip was spending it with _him_.

They walked into the office building as each of the workers, especially the women cheerfully replied, "Good morning, Mr. Sakamoto."

"You're quite popular with the ladies, eh?" Kagome asked as she examined her surrounding.

He smirked. "Don't tell me you're jealous?"

"Me? Jealous?" She pointed her index finger to her face. "I think you're dreaming. You might be the one who's daydreaming about me."

"You make me laugh," He stopped as he turned around. "The day that I think you are attractive will be the day I'm desperate for someone."

"Hey I resent that! Let me tell you, there are plenty of guys who think I'm pretty!" Maybe modest wasn't one of her higher quality, but defending her pride was.

"Then those guys may be pretty dull if you ask me." He replied as they reach a door and a female sitting behind a desk.

She stood up and said, "Good morning Mr. Sakamoto. The clients are here."

'_Damn. I'm late_.' He mentally cursed himself as turned around to face Kagome. "Look, stay here. I have to go in there for awhile." He gestured to the tiny red couch on the side of the wall, then to the door behind him.

Kagome sat on the soft couch without protest. He was surprised. He thought she was going to protest to go in with him.

"If you need anything, ask Sesshoumaru's secretary, Annallee, okay?"

She nodded.

He turned around and walked toward the door, then stopped and turned around again. "Don't go anywhere okay? Just wait for Sango and Miroku here."

"Ok, ok." She sighed as he open the door and walked in.

Inuyasha closed the door and turn around to see his brother sitting behind the desk while a familiar raven haired woman and a brunette man sat in front of him.

'_That head does look familiar for some reason_.' He thought as he gazes onto the back of that woman.

"You're late, Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru responded.

"Uh traffic." Inuyasha made an excuse. '_A bit lying won't hurt anyone_.'

"Anyway," He looks back at the two clients in front of him. "I want to introduce my little brother, Inuyasha."

'_Little?!_' Inuyasha glared at his older brother.

"This is Mr. Marcus Kuruma." He gestured to the brunette man who turn around and nodded at him with a smile.

"Nice to finally meet you Inuyasha." He replied as he stretches his arms to shake his hand. "I heard many things about you."

"I hope those things are good then." He shook his hands in return.

He chuckled. "Of course."

"And," Sesshoumaru continues. "This is Miss Kikyou Miyasaki, Mr. Kuruma's junior executive."

Inuyasha's eyes widen when she turn around to face him. '_It's that wench!_'__

Her eyes didn't show any sign that she met him before. Even her face was expressionless. "Nice to meet you." She enunciated the word 'nice' and 'you' longer than the rest.

"Uh..." He only stares at her in disbelief.

"Sorry to interrupt your ogling Inuyasha, but this is the part where you shakes hands with her, and then we go back to talk about business." Sesshoumaru interrupted the silence as the brunette man chuckled.

"What?!" Inuyasha hit back to reality as his brother's words slowly appears in his mind like a typewriter. "Me ogling at her?! If she were the last..." He stopped when he remembers about the contract. '_Control yourself Inuyasha_.'

He raised his hands at the same time with her as they both shook their hands quickly and then let go.

"Good. We're done with the introduction. Let's talk business." Sesshoumaru replied as Inuyasha slowly walked to an empty seat next to Marcus.

"Miss Miyasaki,"

"Call me Kikyou, Mr. Sakamoto." She cut him before he could finish talking.

Inuyasha glance at him. He knew Sesshoumaru doesn't like it when people interrupted him when he's talking, but at the moment, he's keeping his cool. '_Must be the contract_.'

"Fine," He coolly replied. "As I was saying, you came here yesterday to check on things if it is prepare and done, but one of my workers said he didn't see your appearance at the water show."

She quickly glances at Inuyasha then at him. "A vulgar dog decided to drag me away."

Inuyasha's eyes widen, knowing quite well what she is talking about it as his right hand grip on the seat handle.

"In the park?" Sesshoumaru asked. His voice still remains calm.

She nodded. "Yes, but it wasn't that dangerous. It was actually a wimp, trying to be cool."

"That's good news." Marcus replied.

'_Steady Inuyasha, steady_.' He mentally repeats himself. '_She's one of our clients remember. Wait after she signs the contract_.' He paused for a bit. '**_IF_**_ she signs the contract that is. I totally screw this up. Sesshoumaru will kill me if he finds out about it_.'

It will be a long day today, a very long day.

---

Kagome waited patiently as she watches workers walked by with files and documents in their hands. She looks straight when she heard two familiar voices coming from the elevators hall.

"Sango, would you bear my child?"

She turned around and faces him. "If you haven't left this board at the Stevenson Building, we would have got here early! You should be lucky I didn't slap you for it."

Miroku held his hand to his heart. "If it was from you, I would gladly accept it with a kiss." He leaned forward.

Sango leaned back and then spun around as her ponytail whipped him across the face, swiftly.

"Oww." Miroku gently rubbed the side of his face.

"Hey at least it wasn't a slap, eh, Miroku?" One of the male co-workers said.

Miroku only shook his head as he follows Sango.

Kagome smiled at the couple approach her.

"Rin, you're safe." Sango replied.

"I told you Sango, Inuyasha is not that dangerous to harm a little innocent girl." Miroku reassured her.

Kagome ignored the 'little' part.

"Inuyasha is in there?"

"Yeah with some clients." She answered.

"At least, we're not late to see the clients." Sango sighed as she sat next to Kagome.

Miroku walked toward Annallee and handed her the black board filled with text and pictures. "Good morning Annallee, would you mind if you give this to my lovely secretary for me?"

"Of course, Mr. Sukunami." She took the board and walked away as Miroku gaze onto her rear end. "What a lovely sight indeed."

He turned sideway when the door opens while Sango stood up quickly.

"Inu--" Kagome stopped when she noticed it wasn't Inuyasha. He had the same silver hair and eyes color, but he looks more mature and taller than Inuyasha. Another difference that she noticed was his eyes. It was cold and fierce while Inuyasha had a touch of warmth in his'.

Sesshoumaru glared at her as he approached Sango and Miroku. Kagome shrunk back when his gaze was too intense.

He turned around and faces a brunette man and a woman. Kagome brightens up when she noticed her. '_Kikyou! It will be much easier than I thought!_' She stood up happily as Inuyasha came out from the room.

"This is Sango Kinokami." Sesshoumaru gestured to her as Marcus and Kikyou shake her hands. "She's my financial executive. And this," He turned to Miroku. "is Miroku Sukunami. He's my General Manager of Entertainment. This is our client, Marcus Kuruma and his Junior Executive Kikyou Miyasaki."

"It's a pleasure to meet such a beautiful lady Miss Miyasaki," Miroku kiss her hand. "It's such an honor."

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat before speaking. "Sango and Miroku will tour us around the park, and then we will end our tour by going to see our famous water show."

"I see." Marcus replied as he follows him to the elevator hall with Miroku, Sango, and Kikyou trailing behind.

Kagome started to follow them when a voice stopped her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

She turned around and faces him. "I'm going too."

"No you're not. You're stay here until the tour is over."

"No, I want to go too!"

"No you're not!"

"Please! I promise I won't interfere with the tour." She made one of her irresistible puppy eyes.

A pause. "Fine." He gives in. "But that's because you're Sango's cousin."

She smiled as she followed him to the elevator.

_Twenty minutes later..._

Kagome was already bored as she follows the group around the park. She wants to ride with the little kids and eat those fluffy things called cotton candy, but instead she has a job to fulfill.

She sighed as she watches Miroku explained about how popular The Demon Roller Coast ride is. She brightens a bit when Kikyou and Inuyasha walked side by side without knowing about it. They were each busy looking at a different way.

'_Here's my chance_.' She pointed her index finger towards Kikyou's feet.

Kikyou suddenly tripped, but fail to fall when Inuyasha quickly grabbed her. They stare at each other for only a second.

'_One point for me_.' Kagome congratulated herself.

The moment was only a second when Inuyasha broke it. "I guess you can't walked and look at the same time." He whispered at her before letting her go.

She glared at him. "You should be careful Inuyasha. I have the upper hand here." She said before walking off.

'_Minus one point_.' Kagome glared at Inuyasha in the back. '_He has to ruin the moment_.'

"What are you looking at, wench?" He looks at her.

"Nothing." She walked pass him.

"This is where the water show takes place." Sango replied as she gestured to the small entrance behind her.

"The show will start in a few minutes." Miroku check his watch. "We are right on time."

"My little niece says she loved the water show soo much that I decided to check it for myself." Marcus replied. "I hope she's right though."

"Don't worry; you will be satisfied after it is over." Sesshoumaru responded as he follows him into the entrance.

"I hope he's right." Kikyou retorted before walking in.

Kagome tried to enter, but Inuyasha block the way. He seems to be thinking of something. "You know this is the part where you go in and enjoy the show."

He snapped back to reality. "Yeah sure..." He walked in without yelling at her.

She frowned as she watches him go. '_Was it something I said?_' She runs after him.

"Inuyasha!"

"What?" He stopped and turned around.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

He looks at her. '_Is she concern about me?_' "It's nothing. Just thinking that's all."

"About what?" She leaned forward, examining his feature.

"Will you stop meddling for Christ's sake?" He turned around, but didn't move. He lowers his voice before speaking, "I was thinking about the contract. You see Kuruma Inc. is one of our important clients. We need both signatures from the CEO, and Junior Executive in order for the next project to start. I doubt she will sign..."

"Don't worry Inuyasha." She patted him on the back. "If she's a smart business lady, she'll know she won't let a minor things interfere her decision in signing the contract. It's the quality that counts."

"When did you get soo smart all suddenly?" He raised his brow at her.

"Just now." She walked off. "Come on. I don't want to miss the show."

'_Did we have a nice conversation without arguing a minute ago?_' He shook his head before following her. They turned a corner and climbed a few stairs to the fourth aisle, where their group was sitting. The only two people that were missing were Sango and Miroku.

"Where are Sango and Miroku?" She asked.

"They are checking on the activity in the back." He answered before sitting down next to Kikyou.

Instead of sitting next to him, Kagome went to the fifth aisle and sat behind those two.

'_Now Plan B_.'

Before she could do anything, a young brunette man walked towards Inuyasha. "Inuyasha!!"

"What is it Hojo?"

The young man whispered something to his ear as Kagome leaned forward a bit.

"Ok. I go check." He got up and follows the messenger as Sesshoumaru stared at them with a look that says 'If things screw up, you're screw.'

"It's okay. I go check." Inuyasha mouthed his words before leaving.

Kagome also stood up and follow him, curious to know what's going on. They walked towards the back of the stage and meet up with Sango and Miroku.

"What's going on here?" Inuyasha asked them.

"Sarah won't move. She's not willingly to move toward the gate." Miroku answered as he looks at the dolphin in the stream.

"Then force her to!"

"Inuyasha, you do know that if we force her, she won't perform professionally in the show." Sango replied.

"Is there something wrong with her?" He turned to the young brunette.

"I call the vet already. They will come in a few seconds." He looks at the dolphin. "She was doing fine yesterday though. I check on her health and feed her right in the morning already."

"Damn. The show will start in a few minutes." Inuyasha rubbed his forehead. "This is not my day."

Kagome stared at the four workers. "You guys give up too easily." She replied as she walked toward Sarah.

"Like you could do any better." Inuyasha retorted at her.

"You want to bet?" She crouches down next to the dolphin. '_What's wrong?_' She communicated through the dolphin.

_'Nothing.'_ The dolphin answered.

_'You know it will be a shame for those people out there who are looking forward to see how beautiful and skillful you are.'_

_'Really? But...'_ She looks sideway.

_'I cannot help unless you tell me what's wrong.'_

Sarah looks back at her. _'They stop feeding my favorite brand food.'_

Kagome's eyes widen a bit. _'That's it?'_

_'Hojo is nice and everything, but ever since that man,'_ She splash her fin towards Inuyasha who loudly shouted "Hey" back. _'told him to feed me this other snack brand that consider to be more healthier, my favorite brand was taken away from me.'_

_'So this is like a rebellion, eh?'_

She made a squeak.

_'Okay, but promise me one thing though. If you get to eat your favorite snack brand right now, you must perform well in the show.'_

_'I promise.'_

Kagome got up and turned around to see Inuyasha and the others stared at her strangely. All they saw what Kagome did was crouch down and stared at Sarah for a long time.

"Hojo, right?"

He nodded.

"Do you know where you put the last snack brand she was eating before you switch to another brand?"

"Yeah, it's in the animals' food storage." He answered.

"Can you go get it?"

He nodded again. "Yeah, sure, I'll be right back." He left in a hurry.

"Why do you need it for?" Sango walked over to her.

"Sarah doesn't like the new brand. She despised it although you," She look at Inuyasha. "consider it to be healthier."

"Of course, wench. It says so on the box!"

She rolled her eyes as Hojo came back with a blue box.

"Here's the old brand that she was eating before." He handed her the box.

"Thank you Hojo." His face started to turn red as he moved back.

Kagome turned around and crouch down.

"Hold on." Inuyasha walked to her and grabbed the box. "I'm not letting you poison my animal!"

"I'm not!" She grabbed it back. "This box does contain nutrients too! Right Sango?"

Sango walked over to her and read the Nutrition label at the side. "It does contain many good nutrient minerals, Inuyasha. The only down side was it didn't say the number one healthy food on the cover."

"See it's not healthy!" He shouted.

"That doesn't mean it's not healthy!" She shouted back. "Look if you want Sarah to perform well in front of your clients, you should let me handle this okay?"

"Keh." He folded his arms and looks sideway.

She opens the box and toss in two large crackers into Sarah's mouth. _'Remember it's not good to eat too much snack food.'_

Sarah squeaks happily. _'Thank you Kagome!'_

Kagome stood up as she watches Sarah swim happily toward the gate. Then she turned around. "Inuyasha you owe me."

"Whatever." He walked back towards the audience place.

"Wow, I never knew you were good with animals, Rin." Sango patted her gently on the shoulder.

"There are things you don't know about me, Sango." She smiled as she went back to watch the show.

"She could work for us." Miroku added as he stood closely to her.

"Maybe." She looks at him suspiciously. "You know what, Miroku?" She asked when she could feel his hand started to move toward her butt.

"Hmmm."

She smacked him on the head, making him fall into the stream. "The show is about to start." She walked off, leaving a wet Miroku behind.

---

"Is anything alright, Inuyasha?" Marcus asked when he spotted him and Kagome came back.

"Yeah. I just went to check on a few things that's all." He sat down next to Kikyou again as Kagome passed their aisle to go seat behind them.

"Why are you seating over there?" He turn himself around.

"Umm, better view I guess." She smiled innocently at him.

He look at her suspiciously. "Seat here instead." He patted the empty seat next to him.

"But--"

"No buts. I don't trust you enough to seat behind me. You might spit or put a gum on my back when I'm not looking."

She didn't move, but stare at him while Inuyasha pointed to the empty seat.

"Fine." She walked to his aisle and sat next to him. "But remember you still owe me."

"Yeah, yeah, the show is starting." They both focus their gaze to the stage in front of them.

Kikyou leaned to his side a bit and whispered to him. "I hope everything does not go wrong."

"Don't worry too much. I heard that when a woman worries too much, they get wrinkles, do you know that?" He whispered back.

She gave him a glare before straightening her back as three men came out from the stage.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to our amazing Water Show! You will be amazed at the end when you'll see our sea animals and tropical birds do many tricks that will surprise you. I will be your host today. My name is Tetsuo." The audiences clapped as one of the three men shouted out on the microphone. "And this are my two assistants," He gestured his hands to the two men standing next to him. "Ken and Aki."

The audiences clapped again as they bow.

"Now let's get started with today's show with Sarah, our amazing dolphin!" Tetsuo shouted as the water gate to his left open.

Sarah came out swimming happily while making a jump in the air. When she landed, the water was splash into the wet section: aisle one through three. The audiences clapped, including Marcus and Kikyou while Sarah swim in the huge water stream around the water stage.

After Sarah did her tricks, the right gate came out with a parrot water skiing while David, another dolphin, pulled the parrot with a string by the mouth. After many tricks were done by dolphins, seals, whales, and tropical birds, the show was end with a loud applaud from the audiences. Among them was an excited Kagome who clapped and whistled loudly with them.

"Thank you for coming to see our Water Show today. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!" Tetsuo exclaimed through the microphone.

When the audience seats started to empty out, Marcus stood up and grabbed Sesshoumaru's hand. "Sesshoumaru, you have a deal! I will sign that contract on whatever day you perfer to!"

Kikyou stood up and look at Sesshoumaru.

A pause.

'_Please God..._' Inuyasha prayed to himself as he watched Kikyou.

Then she did the one thing that surprised him the most, she smiled. "It will be a pleasure to work with you Mr. Sakamoto."

Inuyasha gaped as Kikyou shook Sesshoumaru's hand.

"See, I told you things will come out well at the end." Kagome whispered as she patted him on the back.

"Then the contract will be sign tomorrow morning at my building. Is that okay with you Miss Miyasaki and Mr. Kuruma?" Sesshoumaru asked as he let go of Kikyou's hand.

"Of course." They replied together.

Kagome smiled as a plan formed in the back of her head. '_Things will go definitely well. I'm sure of it._'

**AN: **What will Kagome's next plan will be? Dum Dum…

Recommendation: _The Ad_ by sailor-scribe. It's a hilarious story. The author made me want to guess what happen at the end of every chapter. Okay, the story is about Kagome's grandfather wanted Kagome to get married, so he made this lame excuse that he's dying. In order to make her grandfather happy, she posts up this ad says: wanted a male actor to be paid to be her husband for awhile. Of course, the description in the ad goes wrong by a certain pervert. So instead of wanting an actor, it says _desperate woman seeking a husband. Willingly to pay._ And this is where Inuyasha comes to the picture. He needs to marry someone in the next six month or so (?) to receive his inheritance. This story is not finished yet, but she updates often, so there's no worries there.


	5. Mischief Goddess

Finally school is out!!! Yippee. No more tests, no more homework, and no more projects!! (Jumping in the air in excitement) So that means I have more time writing this fanfic. Thanks for my wonderful beta, lovinsesshomaruisnteasy, for proof-reading it. You are incredible! Gurl, you know I don't want to hit you. I was actually surprised that the editing & stuff was quick that's all. All right. Enough of me talking, go read.

**Disclaimer:** Sadly, I don't own Inuyasha. Even Sesshoumaru. (sigh) If I only I did, though.

**The Wrong Soul Mate**

**Chapter 5: Mischief Goddess**

"It wouldn't kill you to say 'thank you' once in awhile, you know? Well, at least you still owe me, so that's fine with me."

"If I give you a candy, would you shut up for a minute? I'm trying to concentrate here." Inuyasha snapped at her as he waited for the number to reach the thirty-fifth floor.

"Humph."

The elevator was moving so slow for some reason. '_God must really hate me at the moment._' He closed his eyes as he remembered what had happened yesterday.

After the meeting with the clients, Sesshoumaru walked off to his office without saying a word to him. It was a good thing for Inuyasha because he didn't want to mention anything about the disobedience of Sarah earlier until _she_ came along and fixed it. He knew he wouldn't hear the end of it from his older brother if he knew it all started out because he took away Sarah's favorite snack from her.

He sighed. '_Animals and their snacks, and I thought women were complicated._' He opened his eyes to see Kagome staring at him with her hand sticking out in front of his face.

"What?" He looked at her, bewildered.

"You say you will give me this 'candy' if I be quiet." She replied.

"Well, you aren't quiet right now." He walked off when the elevator doors slide open.

She frowned as she followed him. "Without me, I don't think she would have agreed in signing it." She mumbled.

"Keh. I could have done better."

"You wanna bet?" She replied. "Wait, you already lost the first bet, so that means you still owe me."

"I do not owe you anything!" He turned around quickly to face her, nearly causing Kagome to smash into his well-built chest. Luckily, she stopped in time. "Beside, I didn't even agree to bet with you. So there."

Suddenly, the elevator's doors slid open again to reveal the ever cool, calm Sesshoumaru walking towards them with Sango and Miroku trailing behind.

"I heard there were a few problems before the show, Inuyasha." He responded when he reached them. "Somehow, I wasn't informed of it yesterday."

'_Another point for Him.'_Inuyasha quickly gazed at the ceiling above him.

His brother continued on. "I thought you had everything in control, but then again, I must have thought wrong."

"Everything was fine." He didn't exactly lie. Everything did go well yesterday, except the part with the snack and the dolphin that is.

"Then tell me why the show started a few minutes late?" Sesshoumaru glared at him, ignoring Kagome along the way.

"Look it was just a minor prob--" Inuyasha responded, but Kagome interrupted him before he could finish talking.

"Everything did go smoothly that was why they were impressed at the end." Kagome replied. "If not, they wouldn't have agreed to sign the contract today."

Everybody in the room froze as they watched the scene unfold in front of them. No one ever dare say that in front of Sesshoumaru, except Inuyasha, but he was his brother, so they didn't count him. But a _stranger_? They continued to watch them in silence.

Sesshoumaru turned his head to finally look at her. "And you must be?"

"Umm, Sesshoumaru." Sango walked to Kagome and held her arms at the side. "This is my cousin from Osaka, Rin."

He silently examined her. "This is... Rin?"

Sango nodded. "Yes."

"Plus," Miroku added. "She helped motivate Sarah to do her best during the show. Did I tell you she's great with animals?"

Sesshoumaru didn't say anything as he stared at Kagome, making her feel uncomfortable inside.

'_What's with this guy?_' She thought as she tried to avoid his gaze.

"She did. Even I was surprised." Inuyasha responded.

They stared at him in disbelief, except Sesshoumaru, whose face didn't change a slightest bit.

'_Was he defending me?_' Kagome thought.

"What?" Inuyasha said when he felt three pairs of eyes staring at him.

"I see..." Sesshoumaru spoke as he walked off to his office.

"Did you just see what I saw, that everyone saw, that was happening in front of us?" Miroku looked at Sango. "Was it me, or was Inuyasha being nice, and defending Rin at the same time?"

"Uh, yeah." Sango tried to remember half of what Miroku just said.

"Hey, I'm not rude all the time!" Inuyasha defended himself. "I have a decent heart too, you know?"

"I was surprised too, Miroku," Kagome put her hand in front of her chest. "That our Inuyasha has the decency to defend someone without cursing at them, also. Especially me, of all people."

"Hey!" Inuyasha shouted. "Well, at least, well..." He didn't know what to say next. The only thing that he did know what to do was walk off mumbling God knows what about them.

"And he didn't even have a good remark for us." Miroku nodded, observing his dear friend from the distance. "I think we will make a great team, Rin."

Kagome smiled and nodded at him. "Yep. I totally agree."

Sango rolled her eyes. "You two can stand here and talk about Inuyasha for all I care, but I'm off to work." She walked off.

"Wait!" Kagome called, running after her.

_Two hours later..._

Mr. Kuruma signed the contract as Kikyou signed it after him. "I can't wait to make this project a success in Kyoto!"

"I agree." Sesshoumaru replied as he read the other contract, and then finally signed it at the bottom of the page, before passing it to Inuyasha. He, too, read it first before signing his name next to Sesshoumaru's perfect script.

"The construction will start when we get the blueprints from Omizo Architect Company." Sesshoumaru continued, ignoring the soft grumble from Inuyasha. "After that, we will go to Kyoto to prepare the planning. Any question?"

"When will the blueprint arrive?" Kikyou responded.

"It will arrive later, around three months from now, with the blueprints of the hotel and the amusement park."

"I see."

"Hmm, do you mind me asking who's the artistic architect is that is going to be constructing the blueprints?" Mr. Kuruma asked before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Kouga Hisao." Sesshoumaru answered as Inuyasha growled at the mention of that name. "He is known for his exotic and unique ideas of architecting."

"Ah, I have heard of that name. Mr. Hisao drew that plan for your resort in Kobe, correct?"

"True."

"Then I'm glad that this project will be in good hands." Mr. Kuruma and Sesshoumaru got up and shook each other's hands as Kikyou and Inuyasha followed their movements, but quicker. "I'm glad that we will be working together."

"So am I." Sesshoumaru lead them out of the meeting room, but stopped when Mr. Kuruma called his name. "Yes?"

"Are you and young Mr. Sakamoto busy tonight?" He asked.

"Why? You want to party all night for the celebration of our partnership?" Inuyasha responded.

Sesshoumaru glared at him as the older man laughed. "Ha ha. Not exactly like that, but I was thinking of a nice dinner celebration tonight with all of us. But are you busy Mr. Sakamoto?"

"Not that I know of." The older Sakamoto replied.

"Wait, wait. You said all of us?" Inuyasha asked, as he eyed the raven hair woman in the corner of his eyes.

"Yes, of course. Last I checked Miss Kikyou's schedule wasn't busy tonight. Unless," The man turned to face his worker. "You have a change of plans."

"No, Sir. I'm not busy at all." She replied.

"Ah, that's good news." He smiled. "Then I will let my secretary book a reservation at Emeril's. Sounds good?"

"I haven't tasted that pasta for a long time now." Inuyasha smiled as he led the man out. "Can't wait to get there."

Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he walked off. If someone was paying for his brother's meal in a pretty nice expensive restaurant, he knew for sure Inuyasha would be there.

---

Kagome watched them from the distance as they walked out from the meeting room. She held up a magazine high enough to cover half of her face, leaving her eyes to watch them intentionally. She pretend to read as her eyes followed their movements toward the elevator hallway.

They stopped again as the raven haired woman said something to the brunette man before walking off towards the opposite direction.

Kagome's eyebrows creased together in confusion, looking at her departure in question. Curiosity won her over as she made her way towards Inuyasha.

Inuyasha's smile vanished as he watched the brunette man walk off to the elevator with Sesshoumaru as they talked about the plans for the future amusement park and hotel in Kyoto. '_Finally._'

"So um, where is Kikyou going?"

A female's voice startled him from behind as he turned around to face her. "Oh it's you. She's in the restroom right now." He was about to walk off when he stopped and looked at her. "Why?" His eyes became suspicious as he gazed at her.

Kagome smiled and put on her innocent act. "Oh, it's nothing. Umm, I need to go the restroom, too. Okay bye." She turned quickly as she rushed towards the restroom hallway before Inuyasha could say anything to stop her from running away.

---

Kagome peaked through the small gap as she slowly opened the doors wider and wider. She saw no one in sight, but that didn't last long as she heard someone flush the toilet in the middle stall. As if on cue, she ran quickly to the sink to wash her hands as the door to that stall opened in an effective manner.

She quickly glanced in the mirror to see Kikyou walking towards the sink that was as far away from her as possible.

Kikyou lay down her handbag next to the sink as she turned on the faucet before rubbing her hands gently with soap and warm water, not even noticing the girl looking at her from the mirror.

"Hi."

She turned her head to the sound of the voice to see Kagome looking at her.

"Um, hi." She replied back.

Kagome turned off her faucet and smiled broadly at her. "You're Kikyou, right?"

She nodded as she stared at her.

"My name is Kag—Rin."

"Sorry what was that again?"

"Uh, Rin." She smiled innocently at her. '_That was so close. I nearly blew my cover._'

"I see." Kikyou also turned off the faucet. She tried to get a towel, but Kagome handed her one instead. "Thanks."

She didn't feel comfortable while this strange girl stared at her weirdly. She threw the towel into the garbage as she walked towards the exit as quickly as she could possibly, with her high heels, and business-like skirt.

When she was a few inches away from the door, Kagome spoke again. "Inuyasha told me tons of things about you."

She stopped again as she spun around gracefully. "Has he, really?" She said in a very indifferent tone. It almost unnerved Kagome.

'_Bingo._' Kagome nodded as she got her interest. "Yeah, when he found out that you were one of his client's workers, he felt very guilty inside for that incident the other day."

"Go on." She folded her arms together as she watched Kagome with mild interest.

"Well, this morning, he was trying to build up his courage to apologize to you." '_Well, a bit of lying never hurt anyone, right?_'

"Really?" Her voice didn't sound convinced at all. "The great Inuyasha, who has a pride the size of China and an ego the size of Russia, is willing to apologize to me? Are you sure, you haven't mistaken him with someone else?"

Kagome shook her head. "For real. He was rehearsing in front of me to say 'I'm sorry' to you." '_Okay, maybe a few more lies won't hurt anyone. Beside, it's not like they will know about this, right?_'

She grew suspicious as she stared at her.

"You're not busy tonight, are you?"

"No, I have a dinner with the Sakamoto's brothers and my boss." Kikyou mentally cursed herself for shouting her business out loud like that to a strange girl. She had reason to believe this '_Rin'_ was a stalker.

"Oh then Inuyasha might try to apologize to you tonight during dinner."

Kikyou shook her head gently. "If this is some kind of joke—"

"No, it's not." She interrupted her. "He's going to say how sorry he was and how he was a jerk for treating you earlier. He told me so just now."

Kikyou gently bit her bottom lip as her words slowly registered in her head.

"If you don't believe me, you should wait for tonight. Well, good bye. It was nice meeting you." She said before walking out of the restroom.

'_Him apologizing?__ It would take a miracle if that happen…_' Kikyou stared at the door as it slowly closed by itself.

---

Kagome smiled to herself as she made her way towards Inuyasha's office. '_Now for the other half.'_

She looked at him from the door as she leaned against the door frame.

"If you are looking for a snack, go to Sango, not me." Inuyasha responded without looking at her. His eyes glued to his computer screen as his hands typed swiftly on the keyboard.

"I didn't come here for a snack." She walked inside without an invitation. He glances at her from the corner of his eye when she sat in a chair across from him.

"You know when I was in the restroom, Kikyou said something to me."

"Don't tell me. She's head over heels all over me, and just dying to kiss my handsome face right now."

Kagome rolled her eyes. How could she forget that his ego was the size of Russia? "Don't let your head get any bigger, Inuyasha, it just might explode. Just because you're in love with yourself, doesn't mean every one else is."

"Keh. You're just jealous that I'm better looking than you."

She sighed. "If you don't want to hear what Kikyou said about you, fine, I'll be off then..." Kagome slowly walked towards the door. '_1… 2… 3..._'

"Wait."

'_Bingo._' She secretly smiled to herself before turning around.

"What did she say? I mean, I'm not at all interested or anything." He stopped typing and looked at her.

"Well," Kagome sat back down. "When I was in the restroom, we met and introduced our selves to each other. She was actually nice. You know, she reminds me of—"

"Ahem." He went back typing.

"Oh sorry. During our conversation, she was thinking of apologizing to you during dinner tonight."

"Keh. Like she would do that. The day she ever considers bowing down to my feet and apologizing is the day I turn human."

'_Hanyou and their damn egos._' Kagome resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I mean it. I could see it in her eyes. She was saying that we, meaning you and her, should forget about their differences and work together as a team to make this project a success." Kagome watched him stop typing, yet again and look at her. '_That's not exactly what she said, but he doesn't need to know that._'

She continued on. "I know you don't want this project to fail just because you two don't like each other from the beginning. And plus, you don't want Sesshoumaru to blame you for everything, right?" She smiled at him as she got up.

"And why should I believe you?" Inuyasha said, pensively.

"If you don't believe me, just wait for tonight at dinner, and you'll see..." She walked off toward the door.

Before she left the office, she heard him say softly to himself as he stared at his computer screen. "She's sorry?"

Kagome smiled. '_I just killed two birds with one stone._'

**AN:** Just a reminder, this is not a Kikyou-Inuyasha couple story. It's Kag/Inu and always will be.

Recommendation: _Relinquished Destiny_by LaraWinner. I fell in love with this story ever since I read it from iridescent-dreams.net. The author make us surprised each moment a new twist comes up in the story. _Relinquished Destiny_ starts out with Kagome making a choice to undo history or else Inuyasha will die (I think). In order to save Inuyasha, she have no choice to kill Naraku (with her own hand, yes, w/the help of a ghost) and let Inuyasha and Kikyou be together at last with everyone not remembering her anymore. Yes, Kagome's sacrifice will bring peace to that time. And so she went back to her time without coming back to the Feudal Era again. Sad, isn't it? However, fate has other plan in stored for her. A new student, resembled the human Inuyasha, transferred to her modern school with almost the same personality and qualities like the Inuyasha from the past. Will Kagome allowed herself to love again? Or will she look the other way? Read it and found out. Highly recommended from me.


	6. Rendezvous

I was about to add this scene in the last chapter, but then I realized it would make it much longer, so I changed my mind. My wonderful beta and I have both started school and I don't know how much this will affect updating speed, but don't worry, I will try to update as soon as I can when my hands are free.

**Disclaimer:** I'm still waiting for Rumiko Takashi to call me back if she wants to sell Inuyasha to me. So until the time comes, Inuyasha is not mine. :p

**The Wrong Soul Mate**

**Chapter 6: Rendezvous**

The sunlight shined through the corridor from the windows as a young woman was searching around the pot of plants along the quiet hallway. The corridor was empty. Almost everyone has gone to lunch, except her. It was not like Kagome to miss lunch, but currently at the moment, she has a mission to accomplish: finding those two little kids.

"Saku, Takeo, where are you?" Kagome whispered to an empty hallway as she moved a leaf. "I know you in here... somewhere."

"Over here, Kagome." She let go of the leaf when a female voice startled her from behind.

"I'm over here." She turned to the source of the sound to see Takeo standing behind that pot of plants. In his mouth was the leaf she was holding earlier before letting it go. He spitted it out. "Next time Saku, make sure Kagome doesn't have anything in her hand before startling her like that."

"Heh, heh. Sorry about that." Saku scratched her head before standing next to him. "So what's the problem, Kagome?"

She sighed before answering. "Well, I need your help—"

"Why do you think we are here for?" Takeo interrupted her.

Kagome was looking at him with a face that say shut-up-and-listen. It was a look that plainly said do not interrupted me when I'm talking or else. "Before Takeo interrupted me, (Takeo: "Heh, heh") I was about to say, I need your help with this plan I just formed a minute ago."

"Okay..." Saku slowly answered while thinking what kind of 'plan' Kagome was making.

"Okay, here's the plan." They leaned forward to hear Kagome whispered the plan to them. To an outside observer, they would think she was talking to that plant.

After a few minutes passed by, Takeo straighten his back as he looked at Kagome. "Are you sure it will work? What if they found out the truth? It will backfire!"

"Not if they are caught in the _moment_ of their affection for each other in the restaurant." She replied before pulling the little boy back in the huddle as the little ones listened carefully to Kagome's plan.

"Miroku, did you see Rin? I didn't see her." Sango looked around at the office cafeteria place.

"No. Last I checked she was with Inuyasha." Miroku replied before edging closer to Sango.

"It's not like her to miss lunch like that."

Miroku opened his mouth to answer, but someone beat him to it. "For a small girl, she sure has a big appetite."

They both turned around.

"Inuyasha!" Sango exclaimed. Her eyes brow lined together when she didn't see Rin with him. "Where is Rin?"

He shrugged. "Why you asked me? The last time I saw her, she said she had to do something earlier."

"You left—" Sango stopped talking when she felt a hand groping her from the bottom. She quickly turned around and smacked him on the head. "You know Miroku, right now Rin is missing and all you can think of is—"

"Who's missing?" Kagome appeared next to Inuyasha.

"Rin." Inuyasha answered, not looking sideways at her.

Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha swiftly turned to her when they realized whose voice it was. "Rin!" They all shouted in unison.

"Where were you? Sango, over here, was worried about you." Miroku asked as Sango slightly blushed.

"Heh, heh. Sorry about that. I was, umm... doing some, uh... calling to my auntie in Osaka. Yeah that's it." She silently congratulated herself for her quick-thinking. "Yeah, you know, to tell her that I'm okay in Tokyo right now."

Inuyasha gazed at her, suspiciously.

"Aww, that was so sweet of you, Rin." Miroku put his arm around Kagome's shoulder causing her to look at it suspiciously.

"Miroku, Miroku," Inuyasha shook his head while pushing his friend's arm off of Kagome. "Let's go. I'm hungry."

"Me, too!" Kagome smiled at the mention of food. "Let's go!" She quickly grabbed Inuyasha's arm and dragged him inside.

"Wait!"

"Kagome says mortal's food is delicious. Do you think so?" asked Saku while they walked around the building. Luckily, they are invincible at the moment or else a worker would stop them to know why two kids are walking around on this floor.

Takeo shrugged. "I don't know. I've never try it before."

"We should try it someday." She added.

They both stopped together when they saw a couple talking to each other. One was a young brunette woman who has a nice thin body while the other person was a young man with spike hair with a bit of brown highlight on it.

"You know, it's obvious that she has a thing for him." She pointed out.

"So Annallee, are you busy tonight?" The man gave the woman a genuine smile.

"I don't know. Why?" She smiled back at him.

Saku sighed as she shook her head sideway. "Is this how grownups always act when they are facing the opposite sex?"

"No, I don't think so. Inuyasha didn't act like that when he saw Kagome." Takeo replied as he gazed at the woman named Annallee. "But you know, if I was in his shoe," He pointed to that man. "I would do the same thing, too. She is, after all, beautiful." He admitted as they watched them flirted with each other.

"Boys." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, I was thinking of taking you to this new restaurant that was open on Main Street. The critics say the scenery and designs was romantic while the food was delicious. It was rated four out of five stars. So well, what do you think?" The man asked.

Annallee smiled. "Well, I was thinking of staying home and eat cup noodles while watching my TV. It was tempting to do that instead, but I take on your offer, Tetsuo."

The man broadly smiled. "Okay then, I'll pick you up at seven. Well for the mean time, would the fair lady accompany me to lunch also?" He holds his arm out for her to take it.

"Of course, but I have to take this document to Mr. Sakamoto first."

"Our boss never rests, does he?" Tetsuo asked as he watched her slowly walked backwards to Sesshoumaru's office.

"Well he does... sometimes." She smiled at him before opening the door and entered.

Takeo started to follow her.

"What are you doing?" Saku asked as she, too, followed the brunette.

"I always wonder what does Inuyasha's older brother look like." They both went inside and see a handsome mature version of Inuyasha.

Saku gaped as she stared at the beautiful man in front of her. Well, the word beautiful was not the best way to describe male species, but this one fit the descriptions of both beautiful and handsome combined.

_'You know, you're drooling.'_ Takeo replied.

_'He's... cute.'_ She responded as she watched Annallee approached him.

_'I don't know what's the big deal is. He looks too feminine to me.'_ Takeo examined the 'cute' man.

_'You don't appreciate the beauty of it.'_ She angrily gazed at him, and then softens when her eyes went back to Sesshoumaru.

Takeo rolled his eyes. _'Women.'_

"Mr. Sakamoto, here's the document you wanted." Annallee responded as she handed her boss the folder.

"Thank you, Annallee." The taiyoukai replied as he took the folder and read it.

It's strange though. In the past years, demons despised humans. One of the things that occupied their mind in the past was killing them for their weakness, but yet, humans still stand today. It was ironic though, right now in the present time, demons and humans are working side by side without resulting to violence and killing each other. Well except a few whose mind was still stuck in the past. Takeo thought.

"And here is Rin's home phone number in Osaka."

Takeo was jerked back to reality when Annallee's voice interrupted his thoughts.

_'Why does Inuyasha's brother want Rin's home phone number?'_ Saku asked as she watched Sesshoumaru took the small memo paper.

_'I don't know.'_ Takeo tried to figure out what the taiyoukai wanted with the numbers.

"Is that all, sir?" Annallee asked.

"Yes, that would be all." He said.

Takeo's eyes widened when he realized something. 'Saku!'

_'What?'_ The girl turned to her comrade.

_'Inuyasha's brother is suspicious of Kagome, thinking she's not the real Rin!'_

_'And so he wanted Rin's home phone number so he could call over to __Osaka__ to check if Rin is there.'_ She stated. _'And if the real Rin talk to Inuyasha's brother, then Kagome's plan will all be for nothing!'_

_'Let's go!'_ The boy urged as they both rushed out of the door before Annallee could close it.

Sesshoumaru looked up when he heard two pairs of soft footsteps exited his office. _'Strange. There's no one there.'_ He shook the thoughts off. He must be hearing things, but when did the great Sesshoumaru hears things that are not there?

He soon dismissed it from his mind when he read the seven numbers in the small piece of paper. When he first saw her, he knew for sure that wasn't Rin. The last time he saw Rin was two years ago when the little girl was only six. Right now, she will be eight, not a tall teenage girl who was at the verge of being a woman.

The other thing that was still unsettled in his mind was how Sango could forget how old her cousin was at the moment. _'Human. They forget easily.'_ He thought as he picked up the phone and started to push in the number from the paper.

He needed proof that the Rin right here is the not the real Rin after all. He would go under extreme measure to find out the truth, meaning he can missed a few more minutes of lunch today. Even the great demon needed food to replenish his energy, too.

Meanwhile, Takeo and Saku are standing a few feet away from Sesshoumaru's office, trying to figure out how to help save Kagome's cover.

"Where is she when we needed her?"

Takeo didn't say anything as he walked back and forth, pondering. Suddenly, he stopped and shouted. "I got it!"

"What's the plan?" Saku eagerly asked.

"At this minute, Inuyasha's brother is calling the real Rin, so..." He went over to the wall outside of Sesshoumaru's office and roamed his hand around, trying to find something.

"So... what?" She watched him as his hand stopped at a certain point on the wall.

"I found the circuit of the electricity, so when he's dialing the number—"

"It won't go to Osaka, but it goes through you!" She exclaimed.

"You're catching on." He grinned. "We don't have time, so link my hand quickly."

"Okay." Her left pinky entwined with his' as her right hand bended her middle and index fingers together, leaving the thumb and pinky stretched out to mimic a phone. She quickly put it closer to her ears before clearing her throat. "Hello?" Her voice was changed to an older woman.

"Hello. Is this Yoshino?" Sesshoumaru's voice was heard through her ear.

"Yes, and who is this?" Saku congratulated herself for having the ability to mimic her voice.

"This is Sesshoumaru Sakamoto, Sango's boss. I think you remember me from the spring festival two years ago in Osaka?"

"Oh, yes I remember now." Saku winked at Takeo, who grinned back at her.

"I was wondering now, how is Rin?"

He does like to get to the point. "Oh, she's been fine. She went to Tokyo the other day. Didn't she arrive there, safely?"

_'Great. A worry aunt.'_ Sesshoumaru made a reassuring voice. "Don't worry, I think Rin arrived here already, but I haven't met her yet. I guess she's with Sango right now."

"Oh that's good. For a minute there, I thought something happen to Rin."

_'Something did happen. The real Rin is missing in a big city called __Tokyo__.'_ Sesshoumaru thought. "Well, it was nice talking to you, Yoshino. I have to go."

"It was a pleasure, too. Goodbye."

"Goodbye." The line was off.

Takeo released his hand on the wall while Saku jumped in delight. "He fell for it!"

"We just fooled the great demon from the west!" They both slapped their hands together. "We make a great team, Saku."

"Yep, yep, but we have to warn Kagome about Inuyasha's brother about this."

Takeo nodded before they each disappeared in thin air.

As for Sesshoumaru, he was pondering after he hung up the line. The real question was where is Rin? The real Rin. _'Somewhere in __Tokyo__.'_ He just hoped she was alright.

Just then, an idea just formed in his head. Well, it wasn't the best thing to do, but if it meant he could keep an eye on her, then so be it.

It had taken him everything not to let his mouth form a smirk when he heard his brother's voice across the elevator hallway. He has to keep his cool as always or else Inuyasha will be suspicious of his motive. He admitted there are times Inuyasha would do stupid things, but he was no idiot.

He replayed that brilliant plan in his head, checking the cons and pros of it. If all goes well, he will soon find Rin.

The three stooges: Sango, Miroku, and that girl who was suppose to be 'Rin' walked out from the elevator laughing while a pissed look Inuyasha followed them from behind.

They must have made a joke about him which explained the look on his face.

He watched them for a bit before making his move towards them. "How's lunch, my dear brother." Sesshoumaru responded in his stoic voice.

"It's fine." Inuyasha slowly answered as he watched his older brother carefully. When did Sesshoumaru ever have time to come to him and asked how's lunch? Never. His eyes narrowed, guessing his older brother must have something under his sleeve. He has a feeling it was not a good thing. "What do you want, Sesshoumaru?"

"You always get to the point, Inuyasha."

"Keh. I learned that from you." He folded his arms together.

"Well, earlier when you said how Rin actually helped the show yesterday, I came to a conclusion to take your word Inuyasha." He turned his head to Kagome. "You hire."

[AN: Thought I was going to say 'You're fire' like Trump, right?]

"What?!" They all shouted in unison.

Sesshoumaru resisted the urged to roll his eyes. "You are hiring to be Hojo's assistant to take care of the sea animals. You will be paid a nice amount if you do well on that job."

Kagome's face brightened. _'My day couldn't get any better than this! If this continues, my mission would be complete in no time!'_

She opened her mouth to answer, but Inuyasha interrupted before she could say anything. "Hold on. I only complimented her, and you want to hire her for my word?! You're got to be kidding! She's only a little kid!"

"Hey!" Kagome shouted, offended with his choice of words.

"How old are you?" Sesshoumaru asked her.

"Eighteen." She answered.

He gazed at her sapphire eyes, searching for any sign of deception but find nothing. "She's old enough to work, Inuyasha. Anything else that I should know of?"

Inuyasha managed a "But—", but was cut off again by Sesshoumaru.

"Will you accept it?" He asked her.

"Yes!" Kagome exclaimed. _'For a minute there, I thought he knew about my real identity.'_

"Are you okay with this Sango?" Sesshoumaru turned to her.

Sango nodded. "Of course. I cannot refuse my cousin for helping us out." She gently squeezed both Kagome's arms. "Rin will be a great helper!"

"Sango!" Inuyasha shouted. "Did you just realize what you just said?!"

"Two beautiful ladies working with—" Miroku stopped when Inuyasha and Sango glared at him.

"You will start working with us tomorrow, so don't be late... like someone I know." He quickly glanced at Inuyasha, and then at Kagome before walking back toward his office.

"Living with you is enough, but working with you too!" Inuyasha shook his head as he walked towards his office, leaving behind an angry Kagome. It will take a miracle to change his brother's mind about hiring her.

"Don't worry about him, Rin." Miroku gently put his arm around her shoulder as Kagome eyed it suspiciously again. "Deep down, he's really happy to have you working with him."

"In spite of him being rude, he has a good heart. He's actually nice and gentle deep down." Sango added as she removed Miroku's hands off of her cousin's shoulder.

Kagome raised one brow. "Just hope he falls for Kikyou. The sooner the better." She mumbled, not realizing what she just said.

"What?" Miroku looked at her, bewildered.

"Oh it's nothing." She faked a smile at him. "So do we have an after-lunch snack to celebrate my new job for tomorrow?" She changed the subject as she dragged both Sango and Miroku towards their office.

She almost blew her cover again. If only she learned how to think before saying things on impulse.

Kagome sat on the soft cushion of the sofa as she watched the flat screen 'TV.' on the wall. The screen was showing a mass murder pursuing a group of teenage kids in some town. Apparently, the teenagers did something last summer to anger the murder which she may add, didn't have a nice choice of clothing. Out of all the clothing the man could pick, he chooses to wear a black fishermen trench coat. If she was him, she would have chosen those cool black assassin clothes that she had seen in those James Bond's movie. If he's going to kill someone, at least dress nice.

She shook her head when the blonde in the movie was walking alone in a shop with huge white dolls standing while the light was turned off. _'It's obvious that the killer is somewhere in there.' _She turned sideway when she heard Inuyasha coming down the stair, distracting her from watching the movie.

"So Inuyasha, this 'restaurant' that you're going, do they—"

"If you're thinking of me ordering you a to-go food, then the answer is a no." He replied, knowing what she wanted. _'Can she think of anything else beside food?'_ He thought as he put on his jacket. _'Of course.__ Annoying the crap out of me.'_

She pouted at him before giving her attention back to the TV screen.

Miroku walked out from the kitchen, noticing Inuyasha putting on his shoes. "So in this dinner, will the graceful, yet quiet, Kikyou be there?"

"You forgot to add how vicious she is." He added.

"Yeah." Miroku said as he sat down a seat away from Kagome. "And have fun with your date. Tell me all about it when you come back."

"It's not a date! It's a dinner that included me, Sesshoumaru, Marcus, and that wench!" Inuyasha snapped.

"Aww look at that, he even has a nickname for her." Miroku turned to Kagome. "Isn't that cute!"

Inuyasha looked around, searching for a mallet or something to hit Miroku with. His fist sure looked nice at the moment.

"But doesn't he call Rin that, too?" Sango asked as she walked in, holding a bowl of popcorns.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes before walking towards the door. "I do need to find new roommates." He muttered.

"You won't find any roommates that are better than us, Inuyasha." Sango replied, falling gently between Kagome and Miroku on the couch.

"Come home before midnight, Inuyasha! Don't be late!" Miroku shouted before Inuyasha closed the door. "I can't believe he's growing up, already." He wiped a mirthful tear from the corner of his eye.

Kagome and Sango gently patted him on the shoulder, playing along with him. "There, there. He needs to spread his wings too, Miroku. It's time to let go."

He nodded before exclaiming when he saw the blonde girl earlier was running across an alley. "Ah what a babe!"

Sango rolled her eyes. "Men."

Inuyasha opened the door of Emeril's and was greeted by a young male worker behind a mini desk.

"Good evening sir. May I help you?"

"Yeah, I have a reservation under the last name Kuruma." He heard a chiming bell behind him, but wasn't bothered to look who came in.

The chestnut-hair boy checked a black folder. "Yes, we have a reservation under four."

"I'm also included in that group." A female voice spoke behind Inuyasha.

Inuyasha turned around to see the familiar face of Kikyou. He was tempted to say _'Yeah that wench, too,'_ but he bit his bottom lip to say anything. He was not going to let this woman ruin his dinner.

The boy looked at her. "Oh, you must be Ms. Miyasaki, and—"

Inuyasha interrupted him. "Inuyasha. Inuyasha Sakamoto."

The boy smiled. "Well, Mr. Kuruma and his other guest haven't arrived yet, but I will take you two to your table to wait for them."

"That would great." Inuyasha replied. It was rather better than standing in the entrance with Kikyou. Then realization hit him, he _will_ be seating with Kikyou _alone_ in a table no less. Maybe chatting with the boy in the entrance door was better than sitting with her with nothing to talk about. Talk about awkward silence.

Inuyasha examined the surrounding as they followed the host to a table in the middle of the room. The atmosphere was set as they were actually in Rome, Italy while a nice classic music was played from the background to set a peaceful mood in the restaurant. Above, a crystal chandelier was hovered below the ivory ceiling that was filled with designs of cherubs, stars, and clouds, which added a romantic feeling in the air. As for the carpet, it was colored in a lush olive green as the ornate wall was painted in a rich deep yellow hue, adding a feeling that you are in a golden palace.

The host guided Inuyasha and Kikyou between many booths until they reached an empty table near a row of large tropical plants a few feet away. The host, being the gentlemen as he was, pulled the chair out for Kikyou to sit.

"Thank you." She responded quietly before sitting down as Inuyasha sat across from her.

The host waited for her to sit down comfortably before leaving them, quietly. At the same time, a waiter appears beside them.

"Good evening. My name is Calvin. I'll be your waiter today. Any drinks you want to order as you waited for your other guests?"

"Mineral water." Kikyou answered.

"Make it two." Inuyasha added as the waiter scribbled it down on his notepad. He doesn't want to end up drunk in a ditch somewhere in Tokyo tonight. Driving and drinking doesn't mix at all, especially when you're driving alone.

"That would be all?" The waiter asked.

Kikyou nodded. "Yes."

The man smiled at her before leaving them alone. It was not exactly what Inuyasha wanted. Where is Sesshoumaru where he needed him? He was not afraid of her or anything, but after what happens the other day, he didn't think Kikyou and he would be enjoying each other company that much.

He didn't come here that early or later either, well, maybe a couple of minutes late, but when he arrived, he thought Sesshoumaru and Marcus would be here first. However, it was the other way around instead. When did his brother ever come late? He doesn't remember.

_'Speaking of Sesshoumaru.__ Where is he?'_

Kagome stood up from the couch as she made her way up the stair. She stopped when Miroku asked her, "Where are you going?"

"Um, I need to go." She crossed her leg to make her point.

"Okay, but hurry. You're going to miss the good part here." He turned back to the TV screen.

When she sees Miroku and Sango busily watching the TV, she rushed up stair and disappeared in thin air in the hallway.

_'Wait, don't we have a restroom down stair, too?'_ Miroku's brow lined up together, but was distracted later when the pretty brunette girl in the movie started running.

Sesshoumaru drove in his silver Porsche car in the silent street when suddenly his car came to a slow stop. His brow creased together as he pressed the accelerator again and again, but the car didn't move. He remembered Jaken told him earlier that the car was checked last week already, then why didn't it moved?

He got out of the car and was about to check the engine of it when suddenly, he saw the left tire was flat. He frowned as he lowered himself to examine it. There was a fairly medium size hole at the bottom side of the tire. He must have driven on a large rock or nail on the road. But what kind of rock or nail that could damage his endurable tire? His frown deepens. Unless someone stabbed it with a sharp pole or something else that was sharp.

Out of the entire place the car's tires have to be flat, it has to be here. He sighed as he got up and walked toward the back of his trunk. At least he has a spare tire. At this rate, he would be late for a couple of minutes. Inuyasha's habit must be rubbing it on him.

He stopped immediately when he noticed another tire was flat. It was the left tire in the back. He swiftly ran to the other side to check if the other tire was flat too. Luckily, it wasn't, but unfortunately for him, he only has one spare tire in the trunk.

_'What did I do to deserve this?'_ He thought as he pulled out his cell phone.

"Jaken?"

Unknown to Sesshoumaru, a small figure stood in the shadow in the tree beside the road.

"Silver Dog is down." Takeo whispered to a beautiful crimson shell. It was not a normal shell that people see in the beach, but instead this shell has power to communicate to other magical shells. It was like a communicator used by immortals that was similar to the walkie-talkie.

Takeo leaned against the tree as he turned his head to spy on the taiyoukai. He smirked as he holds a pole with a sharp end against his shoulder.

"Brown Squirrel is also down." Saku spied the brunette man through the small gap between the bushes. She holds the pole similar to Takeo's on the ground as Marcus called his cell phone.

Kagome popped in a very clean, yet sophisticated restroom she ever seen. Luckily, no one was using the restroom at the moment. She smoothed her shirt before opening the door. She smiled when a red-head woman walked in.

Kagome was surprised how beautiful this restaurant was as she scanned the fairly large room. She smiled when her eyes landed on a table with a woman with black hair and a man with silver hair. _'Plan B.'_

She crouched down as she made her way towards the row of large tropical plants a few feet away from them. She moved some of the plants a bit to make a nice small opening for her to see them easily.

A music she was not familiar with ringed from that table. She watched as Inuyasha pulled out his cell phone and looked at the id.

"Sesshoumaru." She heard him say as she continued to watch them in silent.

"Sesshoumaru, where are you?" Inuyasha asked after he flipped the phone and put it against his ear while a bored Kikyou watched the scenery from the windows.

"My car's tires are flat at the moment. I'm on the side of the street, waiting for Jaken to pick me up."

"What? You don't know how to put in the spare tire? You know Brother I thought you were smarter than that. Calling Jaken to come and solve your problem. Typical Sesshou—"

"I had two tires that were flat, Inuyasha. If you know, I only have one spare tire left in the trunk." His brother interrupted. "I don't think driving along the road with a flat tire is fun.'

"How big was the needle for you to miss it?" Inuyasha wanted so much to laugh at his older brother for missing such a thing on the road.

"For you information, I think someone did it when I'm not around."

He frowned. "Who?" Who would actually dare do that, especially to Sesshoumaru? Sesshoumaru doesn't have many enemies that he recalled of. Maybe it was some jealous C.E.O. out there.

"I don't know." Sesshoumaru answered. "Oh look, Jaken is coming. I have to go. Tell Mr. Kuruma and Kikyou that something serious matter has come up, so I won't be attending the dinner tonight. Okay bye."

"What?!" Too late, the line to Sesshoumaru ended. "Sesshoumaru? Sesshoumaru?" Inuyasha shouted through his cell phone.

Kikyou turned her head and looked at him. "You know, you don't have to shout. People are looking and thinking who this crazy man is."

His patience was wearing thin as he snared at her. His brother, out of all the people in Japan, decided not come to dinner, leaving him, the Kuruma guy, and this wench.

Suddenly, music different from Inuyasha's, sounded across the table. Kikyou picked up her cell phone from her purse and looked at the screen.

"Remember a lady never yells." Inuyasha reminded her.

"Don't worry; I'm not like someone across from me." She replied back as she flipped her cell phone. "Hello."

After a few nodded, her face darkened for awhile before transforming back to the usual shade on her face.

"Okay. Good bye." She sighed as she flipped her cell phone back and putted it back in her purse. "Mr. Kuruma will not be attending tonight dinner with us. He said he have to do something important at the moment. So that leaves us three."

_'Then that leave us two... alone.'_ He could see God laughing at him now. "Wrong. Sesshoumaru also called and said something has come up, too." He waved to the waiter Calvin at the corner to come to them.

She stared at him. "Don't tell me, car trouble?"

He lifted one eyebrow up. "Yeah. Kuruma too?"

She nodded as Calvin came to them.

"The other two guests won't be coming tonight, so I would want the menu now." said Inuyasha.

"Aww, that's too bad. They would miss the delicious food they won't get to eat tonight." The young man responded.

"Yeah well, that's their lost."

The waiter handled out the menus to them. "Well, here's the menu. We have a special today. It's the bisque."

"Uh huh." Inuyasha scanned the meals in the menu, half listening to what the man saying.

"It's soupe du jour."

"What?" Inuyasha looked up at the waiter with a confuse expression on his face.

"It's French." Kikyou stated not looking up from her menu. "It means soup of the day."

"But isn't this an Italian restaurant?"

The waiter chuckled. "Yeah it is, but the chef told us to say soup of the day in French today." He shook his head. "I don't know why."

"So bisque is the soup of the day." The waiter nodded. "And bisque is..."

"It's a cream soup with seafood, Inuyasha. Didn't you learn French?" Kikyou finally looked up from her menu and gazed at him.

"Unlike Sesshoumaru, I didn't bother to learn some foreign language in Europe. I didn't think I will need it for my career." The hanyou retorted.

"I see." Her gaze on him only last for a second before looking up at the waiter. "I would like the Chicken Paradise."

"Excellent choice, Miss. The grilled breast chicken with mash potatoes on the side." The waiter jotted it down on his notepad. "And you, sir?"

"I prefer the fettuccini with the sliced chicken." Inuyasha added.

"Also good choice. Your meals will be done in a few minutes." He smiled again before leaving them.

Kagome nearly drool when she heard those two ordered their meal. _'When this mission finish, I will try coming here and taste it for myself!'_

"Hey Kagome!"

She turned sideway to see Saku and Takeo. Somehow, she was now immune to their popping out of nowhere to scare her.

"Everything alright, right?" She asked before looking at the couple through the opening.

"Yeah," said Saku. "But we have to tell you something about Inuyasha's older brother."

"What is it?" Kagome was still looking at Inuyasha and Kikyou.

Takeo took a deep breath before revealing what they heard earlier this afternoon.

"What?!" Kagome turned around and stared at him.

Saku nodded. "It's true. But luckily, we were there to stop the line from reaching Osaka. We used our talent to save you. You should be glad."

"So that's why Sesshoumaru hired me to work for him," She gently tapped her chin. "To work under Hojo, so he could keep an eye on me."

"So that's his name. Even his name sounds cool." Saku commented.

"That cute guy you mention wanted to bring down Kagome, Saku. Remember that." Takeo advised.

"Don't tell me you're jealous Takeo!" She leaned forward to see a small crimson color tainted across his check.

He averted his gaze towards the plants, finding it to be interesting. "Don't be silly, Saku."

"Thanks for the warning guys. From this point on, I'll be careful around him." Kagome turned her attention back to the hanyou and Kikyou. "It's another object that stands in my path to fulfill my mission. All I have to do is walk around it and voila!"

"Miss?"

"Maybe I should make Inuyasha has something on his mouth, so Kikyou could wipe it off for him. I saw it happen in a movie I saw yesterday." Kagome continued to rant on, not looking who was calling her from behind.

"Miss?" The male voice asked her again.

"Takeo, I'm trying to think here." A soft tap across her shoulder made her turned sideway. "Takeo!"

_'Umm, that was not me.'_ He pointed to something behind her.

Kagome slowly turned around and faced one of the waiters of the restaurant. "Oh, hello. Didn't see you there." She faked a smile at him who in return, smiled back.

"Miss, do you need anything?" The man asked as he tried to figure out what she was looking for.

"Oh, um, I… ah… I was…" She tried to think of a reasonable answer for him to believe. _'Think Kagome. Think!'_

_'If you keep on doing that, that man will be suspicious.'_ Takeo pointed out.

"Will you be quiet for a minute?!" Kagome shouted to the little boy.

"Excuse me, Miss?" The man stared at her, bewildered by her action.

"Oh, not you. I was talking to him." She jerked her thumb to the side.

"Who?" He stared at the empty space beside her.

Kagome realized those two are being invincible at the moment. Out of all the places they cannot be seen, it has to be this one. She shook her head a bit. _'He thinks I'm a lunatic now.'_

'_Now, he thinks you're crazy talking to yourself.'_ Saku added.

_'Is this how Inuyasha feels when I'm annoying him?'_ She thought when suddenly out of the blue, an idea hit her. She jumped in excitement for coming up with a brilliant plan, startling the waiter, but soon realized if she jumped again, Inuyasha might see her, so she went back to crouching. Inuyasha might not like this, but it was the best answer she could think of. "You see that man," She jerked her thumb behind her. "With the silver hair?"

The waiter nodded.

"Well you see, he's my," She paused. _'Sister doesn't sound that convincing.'_ She thought before continuing. "friend. I'm helping him wooing that lady over there."

"Oh."

"He's not a very good talker with the ladies, so if he says something wrong, I'll throw something at his head to let him know that was not a right thing to say to a woman." She lied. _'Inuyasha won't like this if he found out.'_ She crossed her fingers. _'Just hope he doesn't.'_

"That is sweet of you to do that." The man replied.

Saku and Takeo laughed. _'I can't believe he fell for that!' _Takeo chuckled.

Kagome resisted the urge to narrow her eyes at them.

"I wish someone had done that to me when I was in high school. I admit I wasn't a lady's man back then."

"That's okay." She gently patted his hand. "Would you do me a favor though? If by any chance, do you have those people who play the violin to a table? You know like in the movies? I want to make their table to be romantic."

"Of course we do. Emeril's has everything! But I'm not their waiter, though. Don't worry, I will tell Calvin, their waiter, about this." He winked at her.

"Thanks!" She exclaimed.

"Well, I'll be off then. I have to get back to work." The man walked off.

Kagome smiled before turning back to the scene behind her. "You see, if you be nice and honest, people will be more likely to help you."

Takeo snorted. _'Honest my butt.'_

Kagome only rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, both Inuyasha and Kikyou felt uncomfortable seating in front of each other as they avoided each other gazes. They both remember what Kagome had told them.

Kikyou took interested in the fewer people walking outside the windows as she remembered what Rin told her earlier. _"If you don't believe me, you should wait by tonight."_ She quickly gazed at him from the corner of her eyes, annoyed by his tapping on the table. _'Well, I don't see him doing anything at the moment.'_

Inuyasha continued to tap on the table in a rhythm movement as he stared at the rows of tropical plants, pretending to be interested of it. For a minute there, he thought he saw a familiar black hair among the leaves, but it vanished. His hunger might be playing jokes on him.

Kagome quickly crouched down even farther when she saw Inuyasha's eyes looking straight at the places she was hiding a minute ago. _'Did he see me?' _She peaked through another small gap to see Inuyasha averted his gaze towards the ceiling, finding the images to be interesting. _'That was close.'_

He was thinking of what Rin had told him earlier_. "If you don't believe me, just wait by tonight at dinner, and you'll see..."_ See what? He didn't see anything, but this silence was starting to kill him. He admitted there are times, he and Sesshoumaru sometimes have this moment not talking to each other in the beginning, but it wasn't weird like this one.

It was silence. Awkward silence.

"It's a nice restaurant." He managed to say. _'Great. Next thing I know, I'll be talking about how great the weather is.'_

"I think it's nice." She quickly gazed at him before looking back at the windows. "It has this nice European's feelings."

He only nodded.

It was back to silence... _again_.

Kagome gently slapped her forehead. "What kind of conversation was that? Was that all you can do Inuyasha?"

_"I know you don't want this project to fail just because you two don't like each other from the beginning. And plus, you don't want Sesshoumaru to blame you for everything, right?" She smiled at him as she got up._ That scene was replaying again and again through Inuyasha's head. It was not him to agree with her, but for one thing, she was right about it. _'This project is important to the Sakamoto's business. Remember Inuyasha.'_ He told himself. It was not like he was going to apologize to her first. He didn't even consider that option at all. Maybe a nice conversation without bickering at each other was a nice way to start fresh.

"Would you stop all that tapping? It's quite annoying." Kikyou responded.

He stopped and was about to throw a nice comeback at her when he suddenly remembered Kagome's words. _'Damn that brat.'_ He mentally cursed her.

He exhaled before opening his mouth to speak. "Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot."

She looked at him while a jubilant Kagome was trying to suppress her cheer from the sideline. _'Is he starting to apologize?'_ "I think we did, too. But I appreciate your apology."

"Apology? Who said anything about an apology?" He retorted. "It's you who suppose to apologize!"

Kagome paled as she watched the scene unfolded in front of her. "Uh, oh."

"That does not look good at all." Saku responded as Takeo nodded his head, agreeing with her.

"But wasn't there a phrase that say 'love can sprout from your only hate?'" Takeo pointed out. Saku only shrugged.

"Me? Apologize?!" Kikyou glared at him. "Why should I apologize to you? It was supposed to be the other way around like she said."

Inuyasha stared at her, ignoring some of the people staring at them from the other table. "I was just saying—"

"Please, don't talk anymore, ok? It's only going to upset me more." She was frustrated by his action. _'How could I be naive to believe that girl's words? Maybe she was saying the truth, but Inuyasha might be stubborn to say it out loud. What am I saying? I'm getting soft.'_

"Fine. I'll be quiet." He barked. "I'll be quiet if you will." He added.

"Alright, I'll be quiet." She snapped back.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine." He argued. "Wait. She?" He realized what she said earlier.

"What, are you talking about now?!" She took a deep breath to ease the anger out when Inuyasha gave her a look. "She what?"

"You mention earlier that 'It was supposed to be the other way around like she said.' She who?"

Kagome's face became even paler.

"There was this girl I met today in the restroom, saying how sad and guilty you were, and that you decided to apologize to me tonight at dinner." Kikyou answered.

His eyes narrowed. It sounded familiar. "By any chance was her name's Rin?"

She nodded. "Why?"

"That was a lie! She said the exact same thing to me today in my office!"

"What?!" She shouted, but then lowered her voice when more people started staring at them. "What?" She repeated, in a lower voice, closer to a hiss.

"I can't believe this. I'm a fool for believing her that you would beg for my forgiveness." Well, that was not exactly what Rin said, but he was too angry to change it.

"Beg?! I would never bow down to you and beg for your forgiveness!"

Inuyasha wanted to shout back at her, but their waiter came with their food while another man came and played a nice romantic piece on his violin near them. He was starting to think everything was a setup.

Calvin winked at him after saying, "Good luck!"

"Hold on." Inuyasha pulled out his wallet and handed him forty bucks. "Keep the change."

Kagome sweat dropped as she slowly backed up towards the restroom. "Time to go!" She scratched her head before waving good bye to Saku and Takeo.

The two kids watched her disappear through the door of the restroom before looking back at the scene. Saku sighed as Kagome's plan backfired. "Shall we?"

Takeo nodded as they both disappeared in thin air.

"But sir, where are you going? You haven't even tasted—"

"Look, I just lost my appetite because of two bitches today. Don't start with me." Inuyasha stood up and left, but not hearing Kikyou doing the same as she handed the waiter her money.

The only thing that occupied his mind right now was how much he was going to kill her when he got back home. He narrowed his eyes, blaming part of him for not seeing through her trickery. Oh she was going to pay, alright. For all the mess she just did today.

**AN:** Twenty pages long!! That was the longest chapter I ever wrote! Wow. However, sorry for the delay. In the middle of the chapter, I got my nail broke, and I couldn't type well because of it. Wearing a bandage around your left index finger is not what I called comfortable. . BTW, was Kagome's eyes color blue or was it brown? I don't remember. I should have paid attention to her eyes in the anime. I have this feeling that it's brown, but my friends say it's blue. . Confusing…


	7. Confronting

This chapter might have some grammar mistakes, so bear with me. The first week of school had taken some of my time away from writing. Moreover, I was stuck at the part where Inuyasha confronted Kagome. I had all the plots and ending planned out, but it was a matter of connecting the plots together. I don't want the plots to just happen right away; I wanted the story to go as smoothly as possible. Now that's tough. .

**Disclaimer:** Last I check Inuyasha was not up for bids in EBay. If it was, you'll see me bidding a lot of money (monopoly money that is ) by now. :p

**The Wrong Soul Mate**

**Chapter 7: Confronting**

Miroku watched the next movie on the screen, showing a teenage blonde girl getting a beer from a refrigerator in the garage. The place was dark, only a small speck of light was shown through the tiny windows on the garage door as a creepy music was played in the background, telling the audiences that the girl was not alone in the cold room.

Out of curiosity, why did the kid's family put a refrigerator in the garbage? Aren't they supposed to be in the kitchen? Miroku thought as a shadow closed the only door that leads to the inside of the house. He predicted that the girl will die right here in the garage. _'Poor girl, she was cute, too.'_

He felt Sango tensed up near him. He smiled, although it didn't reach the corner of his eyes. It felt like eternity as he watched her grabbed the couch, afraid to know what will happen next. God, he wanted so much to hold her in his arms, shielding her from that scene, but he couldn't. He knows for sure, she will slap him, thinking he has some perverted thoughts to hold her like that. Hell, at the moment, he couldn't think of anything, much less perverted.

He averted his eyes back to the screen and then to the empty seat beside Sango. His brows lined up together. Didn't Rin go to the bathroom half an hour ago? _'It must be all those foods she ate at dinner today. For a small body, she sure can eat.'_

Suddenly, he realized something. He and Sango are _alone_ on a couch in the living room, watching _Scream_. He smiled selfishly when a mischievous gleam sparkled in his eyes. Yep, his perverted thoughts are back. His slyly raised both of his arms to stretch before draping his right arm behind her. He smirked when Sango didn't notice what he has done.

At that moment, Kagome popped out of nowhere on the third steps of the stairway, causing her to stumbled down the stair. Startled by the noises, Sango and Miroku turned their head to the source, seeing Kagome lying on the ground.

"Rin!" Sango shouted as she stood up.

"Don't worry, I'm okay." Kagome managed a reply as she slowly got up. "This is one of the reasons why you don't skip on the stairs." She lied, feeling all guilty lying to them. She hated it when this happen. One: The guilt for lying. Two: Never panic when you're trying to fade from one place to another or else you will appear God-knows-where.

"Are you sure?" Miroku asked, knowing for sure his chances of groping Sango just plummeted down the drain.

"Yes, I'm sure." She faked a yawn. "Whew, I'm getting sleepy. Well, I'm going to sleep now, okay?" She slowly backtracked towards the stair while her ears were trying their best to detect any sound that indicated if Inuyasha pulled in through the driveway.

"But—" Sango was about to walk towards her, but Kagome interrupted while putting both of her hands in front of her. "No really, I'm fine. I'm just sleepy that's all. Just go back watching that movie. Don't mind me." She leaned forward when the blonde girl was stuck in one of the windows on the garage door. "Is that a new movie?"

Miroku quickly gazed at the screen behind him. "Yeah."

_'How long was I gone to miss the ending of I Know What You Did Last Summer?'_ She thought. _'Who died?'_ When she was about to take interest in the new movie on the screen, she could faintly hear the sound of an engine from outside. _'Inuyasha!'_ "Well, goodnight!" She rushed upstairs, trying to find a hiding place. She could see right now, Saku and Takeo must be laughing at her right now from up _there_ because she was afraid of seeing a certain hanyou. Hell, if they were in her shoes, they would do the same thing too.

She stopped in front of Sango's door. _'No, I can't hide in here. Inuyasha will definitely find me in here.'_ She then turned to the other closets on the hall. _'Yeah, like I'm going to hide in there too.'_

She gazed up toward the ceiling. He found her there last time, so that was scratched off from her list of hiding places.

She heard the door slammed open with Inuyasha's voice shouting "Where is she?!" from down stair. By the sound of his voice, it didn't sound friendly. "Uh oh." On impulse, she went into Inuyasha's room.

"Where is who, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, bewildered by his best friend's behavior. He guessed that the dinner didn't quite go soo well.

"Don't play dumb with me, Miroku! Where is Rin?!" The hanyou barked.

"Geez, you don't have to shout you know?" Miroku covered his ears. "You could have asked, you know?"

"Miroku." His voice was stern as he glared, dangerously at him.

"Okay, okay." He pointed up. Before he and Sango could say anything, Inuyasha was gone.

"What's eaten him?"

Sango shrugged. "I don't know. But I don't think it's a good thing, especially if it involved him yelling Rin's name."

Inuyasha went and opened every door he could grab. He checked Sango's bedroom, Miroku's, the rooftop, the closets, even the bathroom. The situation felted familiar for some reason, but at the moment, he was too furious to notice. That leaves one room he didn't searched yet. His _room_.

He slowly opened the door and walked in. It was empty, although he could clearly smelled her scent in his room. _'Lavender.'_ The scent was getting stronger when he stood near his bed. He gazed down on his comforter.

Why didn't he stopped and smell her scent before barging every room like a lunatic? He could have saved a lot of time if he did so in the beginning. He shook the thought off before a mischievous glimmer sparkled through his eyes. He smirked. Well, he could have a _bit_ of fun before confronting her.

Kagome bit her bottom lip as she lied on her stomach below the mattress, unaware that Inuyasha already knew where she was because of her scent. It wasn't a good hiding place to hide, but she wasn't thinking clearly at that time when she was trying to find one. Well, at least, she could see a clear view of his feet.

She could hear him yawned, and through the small gap below the bed, she could see him take off his shoes before sitting on top of his bed. The weight above her soon increased on her. For a hanyou, he sure was heavy.

She glanced up, annoyingly as she quietly tapped on the soft carpet.

With an evil smirk across his face, Inuyasha got up on his bed and started jumping on it. It brings back memory as he continued to jump on it. He remembered when he was little he used to jump on his bed all the time with his mother, although his father and Sesshoumaru disapproved of it.

The thought about his parents made his heart ached…

He stopped just in time for Kagome to crawl out quickly and yelled at him. "Okay, I surrender! Are you happy now? Jeez, what were you trying to do? Kill me?!" She rubbed her aching head.

The thought earlier vanished when he saw her. "About time you got out, Wench! I was starting to think you enjoyed being jump on!" He yelled.

Her right hand rolled up to become a fist. "You knew I was under your bed the whole time! And yet you didn't say anything in the beginning?!"

He crossed his arms. "Keh. I think you deserved it for what you _did_ today."

She scratched her head as she faked a chuckle. "Heh, heh. Oh _that_… well… I was… uh… you know…" She slowly walked backward towards the exit.

"Not so fast Miss Innocent." He quickly rushed to the only exit and closed it.

She trapped. In Inuyasha's room. With a hanyou who can't wait to spill her blood. Kagome quickly glanced at the bathroom's door. If she makes it on time, maybe she can make it.

"Keh. You can try running to it, but it will be a waste of breath."

Kagome glared at him. Well, there goes her escape to the bathroom.

"Care to explain why you went around and telling lies about how _deeply_ I felt about a certain _woman_?" He slowly walked toward her. Each step he walked to her was the same amount she walked back.

"Umm…" Kagome tried to hide her fear, but deep down she knew he could smell her fear a mile away.

He took another step forward as she took another step back to meet the edge of the bed.

"You know, I didn't remember saying anything about how _guilty_ I was. I know for sure I would tell you how much I want to _apologize_, but I couldn't remember mentioning it to you. Unless I have short-term memory, right? Or maybe, it was some _minx_ who decided to butt into people's business?" He continued, placing emphasis on the last sentence as he stopped at an arm distance away from her.

_'What are you doing Kagome?! You're a goddess for Christ's sake! Are you're going to let a mere hanyou scare you like that?!'_ Kagome raised her chin in confidence as she got her strength back. "Look Mr. I-know-it-all, if I haven't butt in, you guys will still hate each other by now. I was only trying to help!"

"Help?!" He spatted. "Oh yes, your help sure have made us grew from hating each other to loving each other right now. Oh I could see it now, we are _just_ best friend."

Kagome opened her mouth, but he interrupted her with a glare. "And don't even say 'I was trying to help,' because you've made it even worse! If you haven't mixed people's words around, everything would be fine by now!"

Kagome clenched her fists. His words did hurt, but something inside of her exploded, replacing the pain in her heart temporary away. "If it weren't for me," She slowly retorted, "you would be the same person," She glared menencely at those golden orbs of his'. "who was too weak to do anything for the sake of his company. No, for the sake of yours and your brother's company. Which by the way, your father worked so hard to make that business become successful in the beginning. You want all those years he strived for to come to ruins because _someone_ was too damn stubborn to even apologize! Or even cooperate with someone else!"

_'Okay, maybe I went a bit exaggerated about the business part coming to ruins and maybe the weak part too.'_

Kagome could see his clench fingers tightening, even his jaw was tightening. And she swore she could have seen veins popped out along his arms when he averted his eyes to the floor. _'Good going Kagome, now you really tempted the beast.'_

His anger boiled with rage and yet not a single word would form out of his mouth. He was too angry to say anything at the moment. Okay, he admitted in some part she was a _bit_ right, but did she have to go on yapping about him being weak? Nope. She shouldn't have.

Kagome stared at him, bewildered he didn't do anything. Not even saying anything to defend himself. She thought the part where the vein popped out was scary, but this silence was plain scarier. Did he heard what she just said earlier or was he being guilty for what he has said to her? She couldn't tell. Or maybe he was turning out to be some crazy hanyou after all.

She leaned a bit forward to see what was wrong with him, but at the same time, he looked up. She could have sworn she had seen a blaze of anger in his eyes, but it was gone as a lightening bolt, and instead, his eyes didn't show any emotion. It was like watching a flame frozen in the Arctic Sea.

He finally opened his mouth. Kagome betted it wasn't good, but she was ready for the blow. _'Here it comes.'_

However, at the precise moment when words starting to finally formed out of his mouth, there was a faint sound behind his door. Inuyasha turned around and narrowed his eyes at his wooden door. If looks could kill then his door would be in ashes by now.

"Shh… Did they hear us?" Sango pushed her right ear against the door, trying to hear any sound coming behind it.

"I don't know." Miroku mirrored her action except this time his left ear was against the door instead.

A minute ago, they heard murmurs inside Inuyasha's room and then it was quiet. Did they suspect that they were being eavesdropped on? Maybe he shouldn't have accidentally slipped and banged his head on the door. _'Stupid floor.'_ He made a mental note to buy carpets.

"We shouldn't be doing this… spying." Miroku whispered.

"But weren't you the one who dragged me up here in the first place?" Sango responded softly.

"Yeah, but weren't you the one that say, '_We are invading their privacy, we shouldn't be doing this_'?" God he loved it when he used Sango's words against her.

"Well… yeah…" Sango looked at him at the corner of her eyes. "But we are making sure that Rin is safe. A minute ago, Inuyasha looked like he was going to kill somebody."

He could have sworn he heard a light footstep behind the door, but maybe he was imaging hearing things. "Yeah, but weren't you the one that says Inuyasha won't harm Rin?" He paused. "Wait, I said that!" He lightly chuckled at his own amusement.

Sango only rolled her eyes.

Suddenly, the door was opened swiftly as Sango and Miroku fell sideway on the soft carpet. They both looked up to see an angry Inuyasha glaring down at them.

"Look what we got here. A pair of two loved birds on the floor. Isn't that just plain _sweet_?" Inuyasha responded with a hint of sarcasm in it.

"Oh hey Inuyasha. Didn't know you where inside," Miroku innocently smiled at him and then looked at _Rin_. "with Rin." He got up as he helped Sango stand. "Umm, Sango and I were testing if the doors were soundproof… and clean... enough to make sure… that…" For the first time in history he was lost in words.

Inuyasha folded his arms as he waited for their excuse.

"That…" Sango stared at Miroku then to Inuyasha, Rin, and back to Miroku. "That the door was not that dirty so Martha won't be exhausted cleaning every single one of the doors." She chuckled as she quickly stepped on Miroku's toes to inform their alibi.

"Ouch! Oh yeah, we _loved_ doors to be clean." Miroku added.

Either that was one of the lamest excuses he ever heard of or he was just plain tired to confront those two for spying on them. Inuyasha sighed. "Okay."

Miroku, Sango, and Kagome widened their eyes as they all shouted in unison. "Okay?!"

Inuyasha leaned against the door frame from the inside. "Yeah, okay." His closed his eyes to take a deep breath for a second, and then opened it again. "What? That was just excuse?"

Miroku and Sango looked at each other. "Oh, no, no. We were thinking about…"

"I'm tired at the moment and I need to take a shower right now, so if you want to make another excuse, please make it outside my door." He walked toward his shelves and opened it. "And that mean you too, Rin."

Kagome frowned. What just happen there? Wasn't he supposed to yell at them for eavesdropping? _'Oh my god.__ Did I accidentally did something wrong?'_ Last she checked she didn't do any magic. Nope it wasn't it. Or maybe he lost it and already forgotten that it was she that mixed his and Kikyou's words around.

He took his pajama and looked at her. "We will continue this discussion later." With that, he disappeared inside his bathroom.

_'Maybe not.'_

**AN:** The more I reread this chapter, the more it disappointed me. It seems to be in a rush or something. I was about to add the "confronting" and "muffin" part on one chapter, but I decided to end it here because I think the "muffin" chapter will be quite long. Anyway, if you see any errors, bare with me. School has been a pain in the butt for awhile. One of my goals is to write at least a chapter per month. If my schedule gets too hectic, then it will be a chapter(s) per two months or so. However, I will try to write and post it per month if I'm lucky enough. Well, anyway, Happy Halloween!


	8. Theory

I've been planning this chapter since August, and when it finally came time to write it, I was like 'uhh…' another words, stuck. I knew what I wanted to happen for this chapter, but I just didn't know how to get there.

On the 13th, I just turned 16! Whoot! Whoot! Sweet Sixteen!

**Disclaimer:** As soon as I get enough money, I'll buy Inuyasha from Rumiko Takashi. But for now, it isn't mine.

**The Wrong Soul Mate**

**Chapter 8: Theory**

The more she thinks about it, the more she was nervous about it. Today, it's her first day of work, and the thought of Inuyasha didn't cheer her much. With her luck, she might find a time machine and use it to go back in time to correct her errors. She snorted. _'Like that's gonna happen.'_

She stared at the floating cheerios in her bowl. They seem to mock her as she twirled her spoon around them.

_'Look at the bright side, this mission would be over sooner than you think.'_ Somehow that thought didn't convinced her much either. After what happen last night, she doubted that her mission would be finishing any time soon. It would be a long way to go, that she knew for sure.

"You're nervous about your new job today?" Miroku looked up from his newspaper and stared at her half full bowl of cheerios. He raised a brow. She didn't finish her first bowl yet.

"Yeah, something like that." She replied absentmindedly.

He chuckled. "Don't worry about it. That jitter will soon fade away when you get use to working there."

Kagome lifted her gaze from her bowl and smiled at him. "You know Miroku, for a pretty nice guy like you, it kind of cheer me up. Thanks."

"If only he works on decreasing all those perverted thoughts in his head." Sango added as she sat down across from Miroku with a strawberry yogurt in her hand.

"Gee, thanks, I guess." He went back reading the newspaper. "God must be really nice to me today to let two beautiful women ganging up on me." He muttered.

Ignoring Miroku, Sango turned to Kagome. "Hey, today is your first day working, how do you feel?" She pointed her spoon towards her, mimicking it like those news microphone seen on TV.

"A bit nervous, but overall, I'm okay I guess." She answered. _'Except for a fact, that a certain hanyou up stair is still mad at me.'_

Sango smiled. "Don't worry, if you have any questions or help, you know where to go to okay?" She winked at her. "And I could show you few tips to get an extra free candy bars with the right snack machine."

Kagome smiled. "I'll keep that in mind." She replied. Her face darkened when Inuyasha walked in, resulting her to play with her breakfast again.

The first thing that occurred in his mind when he saw her was that scene from last night flashed before his eyes. Being caught up with the flashback, he failed to notice his cup was already full to the rim with the coffee until the hot liquid flowed from the side onto his hand. And _boy_ was it hot when he felt it. "Sonofthe—"

He immediately went into the sink and washed his burning hand with cold water. "Damn." He muttered. Just another thing to add to his huge piles of misfortunate. Where was Lady Luck when he needed her? She must have run away when _she_ came into the picture. Granted, his luck took a drive downhill when he founded her on a tree. He frowned. He never did get a chance to ask her how she got there in the first place.

"Are you okay?" Kagome asked without thinking when she noticed the red swelling on his hand. She quickly mentally berated herself. She was the one who supposed to be sympathize, not the sympathizer. Wait – when did she want people to pity her?

"I'm fine." He grunted as he sat across from her with a wet cloth on top of his abused hand. There goes his morning coffee. Oh well, he could stop by at Starbuck if he got the chance.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt." Miroku commented as he folded the newspaper together.

"You want to feel what it was like?" He glared at him.

"Nah, I feel comfortable fine being unburned by my coffee."

Sango looked at him. "You mean my coffee? Last I checked I made it on my new coffee maker which you criticized it wasn't coffee-making looking material."

"Hey, don't blame me." He lifted his hands in self-defense. "When I first saw it, I thought it was a new computer device or something. Last I remembered, coffee makers were supposed to be simple and quick to use, not with all those digits and buttons on it. But if you asked me, I kind of prefer green tea."

"And yet you drinking my coffee right now that I just made earlier on my new Mr. Coffee 2004."

Miroku was about to say something back when a grunt was sounded from Inuyasha. "I swear you two should kiss and make up or else the cops will find two dead bodies in a river somewhere." _'And maybe he could pin the culprit to her.'_

"But of course, Inuyasha. Sango, we _should_ kiss and make _out_." Miroku gave a sly grin.

"Pervert!" She tossed a small section of her yogurt to his face which landed perfectly at the corner of his mouth.

"Mmmm…. strawberry." He licked it off with his tongue.

Kagome's eyes secretly followed Inuyasha's movements as she continued to stir the milk. _'Was he going to say anything today?'_ It was not like she wanted him to say anything at the moment, but she dreaded of what he's going to say to her. Sooner or later he will mention about it. Maybe he will forget about it. _'Likely not.'_

Inuyasha knew her eyes were on him, but he pretended he didn't notice as he tended his left hand. As for Miroku, he silently drank the cup of coffee while Sango was finishing her breakfast.

No one didn't mention anything. It was dead silence, except the water drippings from the faucet which to Kagome's dismay started to annoy her. She glanced up from her bowl, expecting a response from them, heck even another grunt from Inuyasha, but nothing came out of their mouths. They didn't seem to say anything about what happen last night. She gazed back down. _'I guess it's better that way.'_ At the moment, she was glad that no one didn't mention about it. She didn't feel like talking about it right now, especially to _him._

Inuyasha quickly glanced at the three of them. Talked about silence. "Miroku, pass me the Sport Section." He broke the quietness as Miroku passed a section of the newspaper towards him.

"The New York Giants lost again." Miroku stated before taking another sip of coffee.

"Keh." Inuyasha frowned at the title _'America's Mariners Lost to—' _He starting to think that maybe _she's_ bad luck after all, even a country that is a separated from Japan by sea also shared his bad luck too.

Meanwhile, Miroku and Sango exchanged each other looks, knowing for a fact that no one has forgotten last night's event. Kagome playing with her cheerios while Inuyasha reading the newspaper, or maybe he was pretending reading it who knows.

"Sesshoumaru wants me to drive you and introduce you to the staff member working with you." Inuyasha responded, not looking up from the sport section. They both knew he was directing it to her. "So hurry up eating. I'll be waiting in the car." He folded the section together before standing up and exited the dining room.

Kagome sighed as she stopped fiddling with her spoon. "See you guys at work." She got up and put the bowl in the sink.

"Rin."

"Yeah Sango?" Kagome stopped before making her way towards the front door.

Sango smiled before affirming, "I know you will do a great job working there. See you at break time okay?"

She nodded before walking off.

- . - . - . -

Maybe driving her to work wasn't a good idea after all, especially with that theory about her in his head. He just hoped that along the road there won't be some _accidents_ happening to his car. _'Damn Sesshoumaru for that lecture about taking her of all people to work today. IF I die, he will be the first person on my list that I will haunt, next to Rin that is.'_

It was back to silence again as Inuyasha drove the car towards Sakamoto's Water Amusement Park. After what she had done, he wouldn't offer to give her a ride to work. But of course, Sesshoumaru has to call him at 6:00 in the morning, telling him he must take her to meet Hojo. Furthermore, his stubborn brother won't even take a 'no' for an answer or a suggestion for either Miroku or Sango to do it instead. And now he stuck in a situation where he doesn't want to be in. The ride from his home to his work place wasn't that far, but somehow it felt like an eternity for the building to show up along the driveway.

He quickly glanced at her from the corner of his eyes and frowned a bit. She was staring at the passing sceneries outside the window, with an unreadable expression in her eyes.

His frown deepened. He hated to admit this, but her silence started to unnerve him somewhat. She shouldn't be upset over this, on the contrary, it was him that was suppose to be offended—scratch that—pissed off. Beside, he should be happy that she wasn't annoying him with her meaningless chatter, and yet he was still disturbed by her silence.

As the building came into his view, he quickly turned into the parking lot section, saying "Hello" to Greg along the way.

Kagome blinked, coming back to reality when the sound of the engine stopped. She quickly unbelted her belt and was about to get out of the car when Inuyasha spoke.

"Don't try anything fishy like last time. I had enough of all your lies and all of your mischief. If anything goes wrong…" He quickly glanced at her before getting out of his car.

She stared at his back, wounded by his words yet angry at the same time. If Kagome didn't felt guilty right now, she would have turned him into a very, very small dog by now. Or maybe she could dump him somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The latter sounds more enjoyable to do than the former.

As she got of the car, she stuck her tongue at him before following him into the building.

"I saw that!" He accused without turning around.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "How do you know that?"

"There's a mirror right there." He pointed to a round convex mirror that was hanging on a pole.

"Oh." Her face became bigger on the mirror and then smaller when she passed it.

This time when they entered the main building, Kagome didn't play the jumping-and-back-game with the sliding doors; instead she followed him, passing the excavator hallway into another hallway with a huge glass door at the end.

"So…" Kagome tried to strike a conversation when the silence starting to stretch again as they stepped again into the cool morning air.

"You will be working outside with Hojo." He replied as they turned a corner (the exact corner where Inuyasha and Kikyou first met) and walked straight towards another small building.

Kagome frowned for a moment. She was hoping she might work inside the main building so she can examined Inuyasha and Kikyou together. Now how can she make them fall in love if she worked far below where they worked? This was getting complicated and harder each minute.

"By any chance, do I get to help work upstairs too?" She crossed her finger, hoping the answer might be a 'yes.'

"No."

Kagome made an ugly face at his back. _'I will find a way.'_

Inuyasha glanced back as Kagome quickly changed her face back to her usual innocent face with a smile on it.

Inuyasha gave her a suspicious glance again before making another turn to a spacious place that contained a fairly large amount of water at the side with a figure kneeling next to it. As they got closer, the figure turned out to be a young brunette man around the early twenties. Kagome squinted. It was Hojo.

"Ahem." Inuyasha coughed as Hojo turned his head.

"Oh, Inuyasha-sama!" He quickly stood up. "I didn't see you there!"

"Feh. Whatever. Here's your new assistant Rin Kinokami, Sango's cousin from Osaka." Inuyasha introduced.

Hojo smiled. "It's nice to meet you again Miss Kinokami."

"Likewise," She smiled back. "But please call me, Rin." _'At least he's friendlier than Inuyasha.'_

"Okay, Rin. I want to start off by explaining my field is. We specialized in—" Hojo started explaining, but was interrupted by no other than Inuyasha.

"Well, I'll get going now, I let you guys start to know each other more then." He slowly back walked towards the main building. "Rin, if you need anything, well…" He paused. "Well, go ask Hojo, okay? Bye." He turned around and walked away.

"He seems delighted to leave." Kagome muttered before giving her full attention back to Hojo.

_A few hours later…_

Inuyasha could hear Sango's voice droning on in the background as he twirled his pen on his notebook. The total amount. The tax. The price. All those numbers combined. He shuddered to think.

Luckily, he was not specialized in the company's finance. He wasn't great with all those numbers. If he hadn't met Sango in high school, he doesn't know which person would be the right person for the job. Inwardly, he snorted. He seriously doubted Sesshoumaru would give the job to him. Heck, even Miroku won't be the best guy to do them unless of course, if it included counting beautiful women that is.

He sighed. The meeting was long—_too_ long for his taste, especially when his stomach persisted to make that grumble sound. Did one hour passed away? Or was it two? He'd lost counting the minutes and seconds already. If only he had time to grab a quick bite to eat, but of course, his _dear_ brother wanted to talk to him.

Today was one of those days.

He quickly glanced at Kikyou as she listened patiently at Sango's explaining of the cost. At least someone was attentive in this meeting beside Sesshoumaru. He went back twirling his pen.

"Do you think we are able to pay all the possible glitches during the first month of the grand opening?" Sesshoumaru asked before glancing at his brother who seems to be bored out of his mind.

"It'll depend on the state of our finances at the end of the month, but overall, I would think, we would have enough money to fix the possible glitches after the making of the Kyoto Amusement Project." Sango answered.

"I see…" Sesshoumaru turned to Kikyou. "Do you have any further question, Miss Kikyou?"

Kikyou gazed at the graphing board at the end of the table for a moment before averting her gaze back to him. "No. I think Sango has covered up most of the questions I was about to ask."

Sesshoumaru then averted his gaze toward Inuyasha. "And what about you, Inuyasha?"

The pen dropped. Inuyasha looked at him for a moment before shaking his head. "Um, no, not really."

Deep down, Sesshoumaru just wanted to hit his brother with that pen. He always wondered how Inuyasha could survive in the industrial business world with the lack of enthusiasm like today. "Fine. The meeting is dismissed."

"Wait!" Kikyou urged.

Sesshoumaru gave her a sideway glance. "Hmmm?"

"I just want to inform you that if there's going to be another meeting about the Project around next week or so, I won't be here in Japan. I'll be going on a business trip to Hong Kong for about a week."

Mentally, Inuyasha was jumping for joy.

Sesshoumaru nodded, noting the happy expression on Inuyasha's face. "Don't worry. I don't think there will be another meeting yet until the blueprints is done." He stood up. "Oh and by the way, send my regards to Mr. Kuruma for me." He added before walking out of the room.

She nodded as she gathered her supplies.

If there were such things as more awkward than awkward, then right now this was it.

Inuyasha quickly picked up his notebook and pen, avoiding looking and talking at Kikyou at all cost as he made his way towards the exit, but of course, God decided to play tricks on him again. At the same time, he and Kikyou accidentally bumped each other on the shoulder when they both tried to exit the room.

"Wench, watched where you're going?!" He barked.

Kikyou narrowed her eyes. "Unlike someone, I have eyes." Oh he was lucky alright, if this happen somewhere like for example, outside the building, she would have kick his ball by now.

Miroku cleared his throat before speaking. "Ahem. Unlike some people, Sango and I would like to go to our offices now."

"Then go." Inuyasha retorted although he and Kikyou didn't moved an inch as they both sent each other death glares.

"We would like to Inuyasha, but you two are in the way." Sango commented.

"Oh." They replied in unison as they moved sideway.

"Thanks, now go back ogling each other." Miroku added before walking away swiftly, avoiding an injury from a certain hanyou.

"There's nothing to ogle at." Inuyasha muttered as he walked away, leaving a fuming Kikyou behind.

- . - . - . -

"How many times do we feed them?" Kagome asked while tossing another fish in the air as it swiftly fell into the water where the dolphins awaited.

"Well, about twice a day." Hojo casually answered as he brought another large bucket full of fishes, except this time, he walked towards the killer whales tank.

"Only TWICE?" She turned around, baffled by it. "I eat more than that!"

He chuckled. "We have to keep them in a good healthy shape. Beside, they also have a bit snack during the show."

"Oh." She went back to the feeding. "Luckily, I'm not a sea animal in this park or else you guys be spending a lot of money on food."

He smiled and then frowned when he can't seem to find something in a bag.

"What is it?"

"I can't seem to find the checkup kit." He answered, still digging through the bag. "I must have left it in the building."

"It's okay. I'll go get it." She wiped her hands in the cloth.

"No that's okay, I'll—"

She interrupted. "No, stay here. The killer whales look hungry already, and beside, I'm done feeding the dolphins." She gestured to the dolphins behind her. "Now which building was it in?"

"It's in Building 2A in the coffee room on the table. Thanks Rin."

"No problem." Kagome skipped happily towards a small building at the distance, but then stopped when she spotted Kikyou walking out from the main building.

Kikyou didn't seem to notice someone following her until later when she started to have this slightest feeling that someone was watching her, in addition, goose bumps started to form on her arms. Her pace quickened. _'This was supposed to be a safe place… unless…'_ She narrowed her eyes when a certain silver hair hanyou appeared in her head.

She quickly turned around and faced her stalker. "Inu—"

But it wasn't Inuyasha. It was that strange girl that started the mess in the first place.

"Hi Kikyou." Kagome replied awkwardly.

With only just a mere glance, Kikyou turned around and started to walk away.

"Wait!" Kagome shouted, but Kikyou continued walking. "I don't blame you for being mad at me, but at least, please listen to what I have to say."

She stopped which to Kagome's relief, and turned around. "Okay, you have five minutes. Go."

"Okay…" _'Wow this is harder than I thought. I should have planned this out earlier.' _"Well, I want to say I'm sorry for all the mess I had did the other day. The only reasons why I mixed yours and Inuyasha's words around were because… I wanted you guys to be friends or at least be civil to each other." Not exactly the whole truth, but Kagome wasn't about to tell her she wanted Inuyasha and her to fall for each other. That would totally ruin the plan.

She paused to take a breath, realizing that Kikyou was still listening to her. "You see, Sango is my cousin, and Miroku is my friend, including… Inuyasha," Deep down, she wondered if Inuyasha thought of her the same way. "They worked so hard for this new project, and it pains me to see if the project fails at the end just because two people _hated_ each other. I know I'm being dramatic about it, but—"

"I don't hate him." Kikyou interrupted. "I dislike him. If I hate someone, they would be dead by now."

"Oh…" Kagome wasn't sure if she was joking or not about the 'dead' thing.

"But I understand what you were trying to say. Not that I would forgive you easily though… but I appreciate your love and loyalty to your friends and family."

"So, does that mean everything is alright now?" Silence. "Oh I understand about the trustworthy thing, heck, if I was in your shoes, I would be mad too." _'What are you doing?!'_ She mentally berated herself.

"I remembered someone once told me that not everybody is perfect, so you should give people a chance, and then a second chance, but never risk yourself for someone a third time, for then you is a fool." She replied. "However, it would take awhile to gain that trust again."

Kagome nodded.

"Well, I see you later again." Kikyou said. "Good night."

She smiled. "Good night."

Kikyou gave her another glance before turning around and walked away. Something about her that she can't quite pinpoint exactly what it was when she looked into the girl's eyes seem… pure and honest… although she did lied a day ago, but she did that for the sake of the company.

She sighed. She was getting too soft these days.

Kagome smiled although it didn't reached the corner of her eyes. Kikyou was willingly to give her a second chance, but as for Inuyasha, that was a different story.

She sighed. _'I think about that later… this is getting harder than I thought.'_ She turned around and walked toward her destination, not knowing that a pair of golden stoic eyes followed her movements from a window above.

**AN:** Happy New Year everybody! 2005!

Next chapter: "Muffin"


	9. April 15

Sorry for the long delay. I've been so busy packing and moving to my new apartment lately, I didn't have time to finish writing this chapter (it was 1/3 done when I moved) until everything was unpacked and I was finally settled. (whew) Never knew that packing and unpacking was tiresome. And I want to say thank you to all off you who review. It actually motivated me to update faster. .

This chapter was supposed to be called 'Muffin' but I later cut it into two parts. 'April 15' and the next 'Muffin' because the first part is mainly about Inuyasha's… (smile innocently) I won't ruin this chapter for you guys. Just go and read it. BTW, there might be some grammar mistakes in this chapter and the next because I want my beta to have a nice vacation. After all, it's Spring Break.

**Disclaimer:** I sneak into Rumiko Takashi's house in the middle of the night and tried to steal the legal document of owning Inuyasha, but I was caught before I even make it to the vault. . Dang, so close…

**The Wrong Soul Mate**

**Chapter 9: April 15**

This morning was unusual. Everybody was quiet like they knew something horrible had just happened. It had this thick melancholy air around the kitchen, making Kagome feeling uncomfortable. Heck, it even made Miroku and Sango eating their breakfast in gloomy silence. As for Inuyasha, well, he was late as usual.

It seemed like forever as the long hand of the clock moved to six. The depressing atmosphere hasn't lifted yet and somehow at the pit of her stomach, she knew today wasn't a normal day. Frowning, she gazed at the kitchen's entrance from the hallway, waiting for Inuyasha to make an entrance, but nothing happened. Only the sound of the clock ticking echoed across the room.

Gazing at the half-empty cheerio bowl in front of her, she got up and put it in the sink. Although her food screamed to her 'Eat Me!' she didn't had the urge to eat them especially in this murky mood in the air. _'Something is wrong.'_ She thought.

As she turned around, she was surprised to see Inuyasha putting on his shiny black shoes near the doorway. Her brow furrowed when she noticed the dark circles under his eyelids. She had never seen him looking gloomier than ever. To top things off, he looked like he had gone through hell. "Inuyasha?" She approached him as he looked up to see her. "You haven't eaten breakfast yet."

"I'm not hungry." He responded in a monotone voice before opening the door and left without saying a word of goodbye to her.

Leaving her in a state of bewilderment, she frowned again. _'Something is not right.' _It was only three days ago when Kikyou left and flew to Hong Kong, and she knew for sure, the depressing atmosphere today wasn't because of her departure. Although she would have like the idea of Inuyasha missing her, but the thought of Sango and Miroku missing her desperately too doesn't make much sense at all. It has to do with something else. _'But what is something?'_

"What's wrong with everybody?" She asked when both Miroku and Sango approached the front door.

Their face darkened. "Today is April 15th." Miroku answered melancholy.

"What happened on April 15th?"

"Let's go, we might be late." Changing the subject, Miroku walked out of the door.

"Sango?" She turned to Sango.

Firmly putting her hand across Kagome's shoulder, Sango replied softly. "It's better for Inuyasha to tell you when he's ready." She gave her a reassuring smile. "Let's go."

Furrowing her brow, Kagome followed Sango out of the door. _'What happened on April 15th?'_

- . - . - . -

Inuyasha leaned against the elevator wall as he waited for the flashing number to reach the last floor. Today… today _was_ April 15th. The very faithful day that turned his world upside down and changed his life forever.

He never did like this day that much. It brought too many depressing memories to him. It kept on flooding back into his mind nonstop like a fierce rapid moving swiftly across the riverbed, and not even he could put a dam in the middle of it to block and control the flow of water with ease. It happened like this every time. Other days, he felt strong, but yet when the months and days turned into this day, he felt vulnerable like a puppy.

If only he could go back in time and prevent that _accident_ from happening.

- . - . - . -

"Hojo?" She tapped him softly on his shoulder.

"Hmmm?" Hojo wrote the amount of food storage onto his notebook.

"Do you know what happen on this day a long time ago?" Kagome asked.

Hojo froze as his pen fell on top of the notebook.

- . - . - . -

Absentmindedly, he walked out of the open elevator as he made his way towards his office. When he went inside, he noticed the tall figure of his half-brother standing near his glass windows, gazing at the skyscrapers as the sunlight cast a nice glow around him.

Walking slowly towards Sesshoumaru, he too stared at the sceneries below them. He knew for a fact that his half-brother doesn't come into his office that often unless of course, it was an urgent business matter. But today, it was a different matter entirely.

No one spoke for awhile as they both continued to watch the people down below happily walking around on the sidewalks, minding their own business, and not knowing that today was the most heartbreaking day for this company. If only they knew how much these two brothers are feeling, especially the silver-haired hanyou.

The silence stretched on until finally Sesshoumaru broke it. "Today is that _day_."

Inuyasha slowly nodded. "Yeah…" He whispered.

A pause. "Are you ready to visit their graves again?"

He hesitated. After a few seconds had passed, he averted his gaze from the people to his brother and nodded soberly.

- . - . - . -

"Hojo?" Kagome called his name again as she leaned forward to see if he was okay.

He made a grim smile. "It's best if you ask Inuyasha-sama, Rin."

"Oh… okay." Disappointed, she went back to work.

Every time she asked one of the workers about it, they always replied with the same answer. "It's best if you ask Inuyasha-sama." Or sometimes, "I think you should ask Sesshoumaru-sama about it."

During lunch break, she decided to skip it and go looked for Inuyasha instead, but when she went upstairs to find him, his secretary told her that Inuyasha had already left a few hours ago with Sesshoumaru.

"Do you know when will they come back?" Kagome asked.

The secretary shook her head. "No. They haven't told me."

"Oh, thanks anyway." Sighing in defeat, she walked slowly back to the cafeteria. _'Maybe I could ask him when I'll get home.'_

- . - . - . -

Inuyasha gazed at the tombstone in front of him. It felt like time stood still as he stood there, staring at his parents' name. _Inutashio__ and Emiko Sakamoto._ He couldn't feel anything warm at that moment except that cold wretched feelings running along his mind. It was like a bucket filled with cold water was dumped over his head.

He averted his gaze to the lilies in his hand. It was his mother's favorite flowers. He went down on his knees and laid down the flowers across their grave and continued to stare at their engraved names.

He blamed himself for their death. The guilt was still there, eating him away each time on this day. If it weren't for him, they would still be alive. He clutched his fists as he tried to put all his anger into it. It was his fault.

A warm reassuring hand was laid across his right shoulder. He looked up and stared at Sesshoumaru's face. Although Sesshoumaru wasn't known for showing much emotion, he did show the sadness in his eyes at this moment. He nodded at his younger brother before gazing back at the tombstone.

He had to admit. At first, he didn't like Inuyasha's mother that much. He was young back then. When a young kid sees their dad marrying another woman, they start to believe that his father forgot his own mother. That was how Sesshoumaru felt back then. Each moment he saw her, he was cold to her. He hated her with a passion, but yet she was still nice to him, patience with his arrogant and rudeness. If only Inuyasha knew how much he loved torturing his mother when his father was away back then. But as time goes by, she started to grow on him. She unraveled his cold heart and gently broke the ice away with her love, her concerns, and her gentleness. She soon became another mother to him. And when she died, it was like seeing his mother dying all over again.

He glanced at Inuyasha, knowing for a fact that their deaths were killing him more inside. His brow furrowed. He told him many times that it wasn't his fault, but yet, he still kept on blaming himself. _'If only it didn't rain on that day…'_

Inuyasha closed his eyes, afraid that his eyes might betrayed him with tears. _'I'm sorry…'_

At the distance, he could hear the echoes of birds chirping.

_A few hours later…_

He closed the door quietly behind him as he made his way upstairs towards his bedroom. At the kitchen entrance, Kagome stared at him with a worry expression on her face.

He threw his jacket and tie across the bed before walking to the bathroom. He washed his face and stared at his reflection. He was tired, and the bags under his eyes were proof of it.

He turned off the faucet and dried his face with a towel before making his way out of his room.

- . - . - . -

Kagome waited impatiently at the bottom of the stairs as she waited for Inuyasha to come down. After a few minutes have passed, there was no sign of him coming down. Patience wasn't one of her best qualities at the moment. She must have caught it from him.

Frowning, she got up and ascended the stairs.

"Rin?" Sango asked as she walked into the living room. Her brows furrowed when she only saw Miroku on the couch.

"She went upstairs." He gestured behind him as his eyes were still glued to the TV screen.

br Br br 

Kagome knocked on his door. Nothing. No footsteps were heard on the other side of the door. She frowned again as she knocked again. Again, she met with silence. She quietly opened the door and walked in. The room was empty. There was no trace of him. All she saw was his jacket and the tie on his bed. But there was no Inuyasha.

She didn't saw him came down, so that means… she walked back to the hallway and looked at the door at the distance. The _roof_.

She was right. By the time she opened the door, Inuyasha was already leaning against the edge, gazing at the stars above.

Kagome walked towards him softly, afraid that she might distract him. As she got nearer, she noticed the sad look in his eyes.

"In the Lion King, Simba's dad said that when a lion king dies, he becomes a star, watching over his kin. Do you think it happens the same way too for a demon and a human?" He spoke without glancing at her.

Kagome leaned against the edge and gazed at the stars shining its glory. "Maybe." She answered. "But to be honest, I don't really know. I always thought that a person would either go to hell or to heaven after they die." Now that she think about it, when an angel lost their wing, do they becomes stars or be send down to Earth to live as a human? She should ask Lady Kaede about it when she have a chance.

She averted her eyes and looked at Inuyasha. He looked like he'd just lost his way in life and his eyes… his eyes was like an open window to his soul. It was full of grief and sorrow with a touch of… _'Was it guilt?'_ She thought. How could she ask him about what happened on this day? It seemed rude and uncaring. _'I know I'm being too noisy… but…'_ "What's wrong?"

He chuckled. It sounded lifeless with a tint of fake humor in it. "How could I forget, you're really… what's the word?" He tapped his chin.

"Determined…?" Kagome added.

"Exactly!" He gestured with his hand and glanced at her. "No matter how many times I tell you to butt out of someone's business, you're always determined to see what the problem is."

"Gee thanks. Don't I feel special…" She sarcastically replied.

His face became serious again as he went back gazing at the stars. "Today was…" He paused. "It was the day that my parents died."

Kagome stared at him, surprises written across her face. It wasn't everyday that Inuyasha told her about his feelings. Shoot, it was always, _"You're annoying."_ Or _"Sooner or later, you're going to become a pig."_ But this… it was quite different.

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you being sorry for? You're not the one that caused the car crash." He retorted.

Her eyes widened and then softened when she noticed the inner turmoil in his eyes.

He continued on when she didn't say anything. "It was raining on that day… I was about ten. I was doing this Romeo and Juliet play…"

_A little Inuyasha frowned as he paced around behind the stage. His parents were late again. And making things worse, his costume started to make him itched. _

_He quickly walked to the curtains and peaked through the small gap at the side. The two seats next to Sesshoumaru were still empty. "Where are they! They better not be late again!" He crossed his arms. His father was always busy, especially with that business of his'. _

_His mother suggested him to do this Romeo and Juliet play to broaden his skills and knowledge. All he did in this play was fencing and hold some dying girl at the last scene and killed himself. The only excited part was when he killed that one guy—Juliet's cousin, he think. Well, not exactly killing, pretending that is. If only his fake sword was real though, so he could stab Kouga with it. After all, he was playing Tybalt and he was Romeo. _

_The audience became silence, indicating that the play was starting as one of his classmates walked into the stage. Inuyasha frowned again. His parents didn't show up yet. _'_How late are they?'_

_At that precise moment, he saw two men came up to Sesshoumaru's seat and whispered something to him. It was hard to tell what he was saying at the distance, but by his brother's expression, it wasn't that good. Automatically, their eyes met._

_Sesshoumaru__ got up and walked towards the door, leading to the backstage. He walked towards Inuyasha and averted his eyes somewhere else beside Inuyasha' face._

_"What's wrong? Pop says he can't make it to my play?" Inuyasha presumed sharply. "Isn't it a bit late to say that?" He crossed his arms in anger._

_Silence._

_His brow furrowed when he noticed his brother's expression. It wasn't everyday to see Sesshoumaru showing emotions, especially sorrow. "What happen, Sesshoumaru?" He asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable with this strange side of his brother. He has this sinking feeling that something bad has happened._

_"There was a car accident…" He paused. "involving our parents." _

_At that moment, his world came crashing down and he saw black._

He became quiet after he told his story. "And you know what the _funniest_ part was? I was angry for them for being late to my play, when actually they were dying at that exact moment." He spat angrily. "I was pissed, and I didn't know they were dead yet."

Kagome looked at him, seeing a bunch of emotions being displayed on his face. It pained her to see him like this.

He lowered his voice, almost to a whisper. "They don't want to be late for my play, so they drove their car passed the red light, not knowing that another car with a drunken driver was heading towards their way." He gazed downward. "It was my fault. If I hadn't…" Next thing he knew, he felt something warm was pressed against him. He glanced beside him to see Kagome embracing him from the side.

"Shh… it's not your fault. You didn't cause their deaths."

"Yes I did!" He shouted.

"No you didn't!" A tear gently rolled down her cheek. "You couldn't control what had happened."

His eyes softened when he noticed the tear. "You're crying."

She looked up as her melted blue eyes shimmered with tears, threatening to fall again.

"Don't cry." He wiped the tear away. "It doesn't suit you."

She smiled before letting him go. "You should live in the present Inuyasha, and cherish those memories you have, but don't let the past guide your future. You should set it behind you and move on. Don't let it become your whole life."

He gave her a surprise look. "You actually said something right for a change."

"What's that suppose to mean? I'm always right." She folded her arms together.

"Keh." There was a small smile forming at the side of his lip.

"And here I am, worry about you and you just—"

"You were worried about me?" He interrupted her.

Kagome leaned against the edge as she gazed at the sky. "Isn't it beautiful?" She whispered, changing the subject. She gave a big sigh before opening her mouth. "But you know, you're lucky to actually remember your parents. I, on the other hand, couldn't remember what they look like."

"What happen?" He looked at her, ignoring why she changed the subject. He never knew that she lost her parents too. Then again, he doesn't know much about Rin's past.

"I don't know. Lady Kaede said they were in an accident." Realizing what she just said, she tried to think of something quick. _'Did Rin's parents died too?'_ She started to panic. If only she knew how to do a memory charm.

All he did was gave her hand a squeeze and stared at the crescent moon.

It was silence. Not awkward, but it was one of those silence where you felt comfortable in.

He averted his gaze and stared at her. She was unusual. He never met someone like her before. Usually girls her age would give him those adoration eyes and say "Can I be your girlfriend?" or "I would do anything for you." Yep he was a lady's man alright. He inwardly smirked as he went gazing above him.

"You know, I remember when I was little, my mother used to make this irresistible chocolate chip muffin with a tint of honey in them. They were so delicious I would steal some of Sesshoumaru's." Not that he admitted he always failed doing so.

Kagome chuckled. "I bet I would like them too."

He gave her a look. "You and your big appetite." After a few seconds of silence, he softly added, "But I do miss those muffins."

Kagome averted her eyes and looked at him. He was smiling for once. _'His mother's muffins…' _Another idea formed in her head.

**AN: **It's Spring Break, so that mean I have plenty of time to finish typing 'Muffin.' I'm guessing that you guys will have a pretty good picture what will happen in the next chapter, right? Maybe I just end the story with Inuyasha marry Kikyou. Just kidding. I don't want a bunch of readers chasing me with a bat in their hands, saying "How could you!" (shudder to think)

Next Chapter: "Muffin"

Amanda Trinh: Don't worry this is an Inu/Kag story. Although I don't _hate_ Kikyou that much, I just hope that in the anime, Inuyasha and Kagome will be together at the end. (cross our fingers)


	10. Muffin

Sorry for the lack of update for the past months. My computer crashed the other week and all my documents, essays, stories, etc. were gone. I was furious. I remember I made a backup, but unfortunately, I misplaced the CD when I moved to my new apartment. . My dad tried to move the files from my old hard drive to my new one, but it didn't work. Furthermore, the cost of transporting files/repairing my old hard drive from a professional computer specialists cost an estimate of $1000 U.S. I wasn't that pleased for one bit. My dad said he will try to find a cheaper specialist who can help. If you guys know any company that helps transfer some of my files from my old hard drive to my new one under a nice price that is LOWER than $1000, please inform me.

Fortunately, I had printed a copy of the unedited version of chapter 10. However, it was half-finished and some of the stuffs I added weren't on there. (sigh) The chapter on my comp was already ¾ done! Well, I should be lucky that I printed the old version of this chapter. No use crying over spill milk. It took me awhile to remember what I wrote on this chapter, so if you notice some errors/grammars, bare with me. I'm quite tired from trying to remembering every _single_ thing from the lost new version. But as a bottom note, I want to say **thank you** to all of my reviewers! You guys actually cheer and motivated me to actually rewrite this chapter again.

**Disclaimer:** At the moment, I'm sparring with Takashi over the legal documents of Inuyasha. :p

**The Wrong Soul Mate**

**Chapter 10: Muffin  
**

To say the least, he was a bit embarrassed about last night, but somehow relieved at the same time. He felt much lighter, especially that burden in his chest slowly dissolving away. Not that he admits it was _her_ in the first place that helped him with his own problem. To be honest, he doesn't know what to say to her when he sees her. He can't just say, "Hey Rin, thanks for last night. I finally felt much better." He inwardly groaned. If Miroku hears him saying that, he knew for sure that his best friend would think of some perverted thoughts.

If only he had an hourglass so that he can revert time to go back to that moment when he talked to her. He sighed again. If only things were that simple.

Heck, it could have been in his _sensitive_ moment. It was not like him to actually confess something serious like that. He was Inuyasha for Christ's sake!

"Thinking about something?" Miroku inquired as he sat down next to him with a cup of tea in his hand.

'_Speak of the devil. I must have a long life.'_ He took a long sip of his coffee before he simply answered, "Nothing."

"Yeah sure…" Miroku paused. "Oh and I saw Rin went upstairs last night." He added for amusement.

"Get your mind out of the gutter Miroku. Is that all you can think about?" His hand was itching to throw his cup of coffee at him.

Miroku gestured his hands in self-defense. "I wasn't thinking of such thing Inuyasha! I simply said what I saw last night. You, on the other hand, was implying some Rated R moments."

A small blush appeared on Inuyasha's cheeks. "Why you…!"

He continued on. "And I am shock to hear that my dear friend just accused me of thinking nothing but women and their—"

A familiar cough sounded behind him. "And their what, Miroku?" Sango asked as she tilted her head and sat down next to him.

The black hair man just smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Their knowledge of course!"

Sango gave him a look which clearly said, 'Yeah right.'

"And may I add, you look lovely today, Sango." He smiled at her innocently.

"And may I also add, there won't be any fingers left if you don't move your hand away from my ass?" She eyed his hand suspiciously.

"Why, I would never do—"

'_And here goes their usual conversation routine.'_ Inuyasha thought annoyingly before taking another sip of his coffee. And to make things worse, the ticking sound from the clock on the wall started to irritate him somewhat.

Tick tock.

"Sango, you have something on your mouth, let me wipe it for you."

Tick tock.

"No that's okay, Miroku. I can do it myself."

Tick tock.

Inuyasha frowned when a certain _girl_ was absented from the table. _'She's late.'_ It was not like her to be late for breakfast like that. Shoot, the last time she missed a meal was when… to be frank, he didn't recall if she _did_ miss any meal of the day at all. To her, there's breakfast, early snack, lunch, after-lunch snack, dinner, and after-dinner snacks. It was amazing that all those foods managed to fit into her small framed body.

Just now, the second hand of the clock just passed the number six and yet, she hasn't made an appearance.

He gazed at the kitchen entrance, not noticing that Sango was following his gaze. She tilted her spoon a bit before opening her mouth to say, "She won't come down for breakfast today, even to work. You don't have to worry Inuyasha—"

On impulse, he blurted out. "Who say I'm worried about that girl? She can get sick for all I care." He made a disgusted look to hide his embarrassment.

'_What happen to the nickname Wench?'_ Miroku and Sango both thought at the same time as they secretly eyed each other.

"Well just to let you know, I don't think Rin is able to go to work today. She caught a cold,"

'_From last night…'_ He remembered it was a bit chilly last night, and he did recall that she was shivering a bit when a breeze swept by them. How could he forget that she's a human being? He could easily pictured his half-brother saying, _"Human are weak, that's why they get sick easily."_

"But I don't think it's that serious though." Sango continued on. "Last I check, her temperature was below 90 degree. I want to stay here to take care of her, but I have to finalize the company's finance records for Sesshoumaru."

Miroku added. "Maybe you can ask Sesshoumaru if he can—"

"No, I seriously doubt my jerk-of-a-brother would say yes. You know how he is." Inuyasha interrupted, still pondering about Rin.

"Now that I think about it… hey Sango, do you remember that time when Sesshoumaru berated Inuyasha for that typo on one of the documents? We could easily hear him from a far!" Miroku commented.

The hanyou narrowed his eyes. "It was just a small misprint!" He barked. "And I last recalled your ear was against the door, listening to our conversation!"

"Keep it down you two!" Sango shouted. "Do you want Rin to wake up because of all that noises you guys are making!" She got up and walked towards the main door, muttering about stupid hanyou and former monk.

They both gaped as they watched her disappeared at the corner.

"You know, I kind of like it when she's in a feisty mood." Miroku followed her lead. "That's my Sango alright!"

Inuyasha only shook his head in reply as he took a last sip of his coffee. He then gazed up at the ceiling in a worry expression before he made his way out.

---

As both of their cars became speak of dots at the distance, Kagome finally tore her eyes away from the window as she made her way downstairs. Although she liked how Sango really cared for her, she silently wished for those three to just go to work as quickly as possible.

Walking into the kitchen, she examined some of the utensils hanging up against the wall as she gently tapped her chin. It looks like all the tools that she'll need are here, now all she need was those _two_.

In a few seconds, they will be here.

The clock ticked three times.

'_Okay, a few more seconds.'_

The second hand moved past the number six and then nine, and then…

The T.V. was turned on from the living room.

"Hey this is cool! This box has people inside!" A small kid's voice shouted across from that room.

'_Finally they are here.'_ Kagome made her way towards the living room and spotted Sakura and Takeo watching 'the box'. "About time you two got here."

"Good morning, Kagome!" Saku responded, not even moving her gaze from the T.V. screen. _'Is this how Inuyasha saw me when I watched T.V.?'_

"Hey Saku, if you pressed this button on this remote thingy, the box switched the people around!" The little boy showed her the remote and pressed one of the buttons. "See!"

"Cool!"

Kagome smiled at their childish behavior. It was kind of cute in a way. "I remember Lady Kaede told me that you two were supposed to do something for me…" She gently tapped the side of her forehead, indicating that she was thinking. "I forgot what it was. Maybe I should go ask her…"

"Wait!" The two little immortals shouted in unison.

'_Bingo.'_ Kagome inwardly smiled in her head.

"Here's the recipe!" Saku walked over and handed her a piece of paper. "It's not exactly like the one like Inuyasha's mom though." She pouted.

"Yeah, that spirit guardian won't even let us enter the spirit world!" Takeo added.

"And you know what? He called us 'brats' too!" Saku complained. "And instead, we got it from the Cooking God."

"Stupid guardian…" The boy muttered.

Kagome chuckled. "It's okay. As long as we can make muffins that are edible, I'm fine by the recipe." She gave them a reassuring smile. "Are you guys ready to make some delicious muffins?"

"Yeah!" Saku got up excitedly and skipped to the kitchen. "Let's do some baking!"

Takeo just rolled his eyes as he went back being intrigued by the T.V. screen.

"That means you too, Takeo." Kagome clicked her finger, and then the T.V. screen faded to black.

"Aww man." He got sulkily and walked towards the kitchen reluctantly. "Why can't we just ask the Cooking God to do it for us instead?"

Kagome just shook her head. "Whose knows, if we finish baking, we might even have time to watch 'the box'."

The boy's eyes brightened before he stepped into the kitchen.

Again, she shook her head in amusement. "Kids…" She murmured.

…_A few hours later…_

After many rotations of mixing the flour together, it finally puffed out like a balloon. At that instance, Kagome gave a sigh of relief before putting the long wooden spoon at the side of the bowl. She never knew that baking required a lot of strength. It looks so easy when she saw how the chiefs cooked and baked on the Food Channel. _'Cooking shows can be real deceiving.'_ She mused. _'Well at least I have a nice break right now…'_

"Do you think it's time to mix the chocolate chips with it now?" Saku questioned as she gazed at Kagome's masterpiece.

That nice thought of getting a little piece of relaxing soon escaped from Kagome's vision. _'Another stirring…' _She sighed. Maybe she should have asked the Cooking God for help, but then again, how would that be special?

She frowned. _'Special? Why would I?'_ She closed her eyes in frustration. _'Because you want him to feel at home again, you idiot, like when he was little with his mother.'_

"Kagome? Are you there?"

She opened her eyes to stare at a pair of hazel eyes. "Yeah. I'm back." She gave a small smile before adding, "Yes, I think it's time to add the chocolate chips now."

Saku widened her smile. "For a minute there, I thought you were about to give up!"

"This Kagome never give up!" She said cheerfully. "I was surprised that baking can be quite exhausting though."

"Just look at the bright side, Kagome. We will have two dozens of chocolate chip muffins at the end!"

Somehow the number of muffins that she has to stir didn't cheer her much.

"Takeo, can you pass the chocolate chips bag to us?" Saku frowned when all she heard was, "Mmmm…"

They both turned their heads to see Takeo's mouth smeared with chocolate as he popped another chocolate chips into his mouth.

"Mmmm…" He tilted his head. "You want some?" Takeo lifted one of the chocolate chips at them.

One-third of the bag was empty. "Takeo!" Saku got up and smacked him across the head. "You don't suppose to eat those! Those are for Inuyasha!"

"Owww…" The boy rubbed at the side of his head. "But it was too good to resist…"

Kagome chuckled, remembering what she did when she first tasted chocolate. She can't blame the kid. The moment you take a bite of a chocolate bar, your body soon becomes addicted to it. She remembered the first time that she ate chocolate, Inuyasha's drawer of sweets in his office desk turned out to be empty at the end of the day.

"You are right, it is good!"

"See, I'm right."

Their voice interrupted her thoughts as she looked at them. "Hey! Save some for the muffins you two!"

"Heh, heh, heh…" Takeo rubbed the back of his head.

Kagome shook her head in amusement. _'Those two._' She then suggested, "How about this, when we are done baking, you two can have some of the muffins."

Takeo's eyes widened with anticipation. "Really!"

Kagome nodded.

"Pig." Saku muttered.

"Fine, I can have your share." Takeo said.

"Who said I don't want some?"

"But you said—"

Kagome interrupted before World War III started. "Then we are pigs then." She chuckled as their faces exploded in laughter.

"True, true…" As their laughter died down, Takeo got up and walked towards Kagome with the chocolate chips bag in his hand. "Here's the—" And before he could utter another word, he slipped on a large amount of flour on the floor. Hence, he accidentally let go of the bag as it landed right smack on Saku's head. Saku, on the other hand, unintentionally smacked the honey bottle to soar across the air as she landed on her butt.

Watching the scene unfolded before her very eyes, Kagome's hand quickly caught the bottle upside down before it was dropped into the bowl. "Whew. That was close." She sighed in relief.

"Umm, Kagome. It's dripping." Takeo pointed to the honey dripping from the bottle's lid.

Her eyes widened when she noticed a small amount of honey was dropped into the bowl, mixing with the flour and all the ingredients inside. She then quickly flipped the bottle to be upright before catching it again, and put it on the table.

Saku narrowed her eyes at Takeo. "Look what you did!"

Guilt was shown across his eyes as he tried to avoid her gaze. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

Disappointment quickly disappeared within her as Kagome noticed the remorse written across his face. "It's okay Takeo. These muffins will have an extra surprise ingredient in them." She smiled at him, reassuring that she was not mad anymore.

Saku took a deep breath before she reached her hand down to her friend and looked the other way.

Takeo gazed at her hand before averted his eyes to hers'.

Saku had the urge to roll her eyes as Kagome's chuckles echoed behind them. "Inuyasha is going to be here sooner or later. It's better if we finish baking these muffins on time."

Still, Takeo's didn't make a move.

Kagome gazed at them, making a happy prediction of those two in the future when they become adults.

"This hand is not going to wait forever. If you don't want to touch it, it's fine by me." She was about take her hand back when suddenly as quick as lightning, Takeo's hand shot up and grabbed it. He lifted himself up as he grinned at her, knowing for a fact that his best friend was not mad at him anymore.

"Awww, puppy love." Kagome commented, breaking the spell between those two.

"Ewww…" They automatically let go as they wiped their hands at the side of their attires. "Gross."

"Like I ever want to be with her like _that_!" Takeo retorted.

"Like I ever thought of you like _that_!" Saku barked.

Kagome sighed. _'Kids…'_ She shouldn't have said that, but to be frank, it was a Kodak moment when she saw their expressions.

"I don't have coodies!"

Well, it was time to make a diversion before all hell breaks lose. "Okay, let's go back to baking!"

---

Inuyasha waited as his finger tapped impatiently on the counter. _'How long does it take for people to make congee?'_ He thought. Ten minutes has passed already.

AN: As a footnote, _congee_ is rice porridge that can be mixed with any ingredients like chicken, seafood, etc. You usually eat in any Asian countries, restaurant, and families. Those are good, especially when you are sick.

If another minute passed again, he was about to barge into the kitchen and yell at the cookers to hurry up. He doesn't have all day. Right on cue, a waitress walked out from the kitchen with a bag in her hand.

"About time." He muttered as he took out his wallet.

She walked over to the counter with a big cheerful smile on her face. "Chicken congee, sir?"

"Yeah. About time it's done." He retorted.

The waitress' smile wavered for a bit before answering, "In order for the food to be delicious, our cookers take their time to make sure that the dish is perfect for your tas—"

He interrupted. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. How much?" He wasn't in the mood to hear some speech about the essence of food. Inuyasha wouldn't be that angry if the cooker didn't 'take' their precious time _slowly_ in making this soup. What's so hard in making congee? He has a sick person to go to for Christ's sake who has an appetite the size of China.

Again, her smile wavered. "It's 720 yen, Sir."

He handed her the amount of money before he took the plastic bag off the counter without another word to her.

The waitress finally released her sigh as she watched him walked out from the store. "And I thought wolf youkai are harsh."

---

"Eh buddy! It's time for lunch!" Miroku exclaimed as he walked into Inuyasha's office to see an empty chair and no Inuyasha. He frowned before walking back and asked Inuyasha's secretary. "Where's Inuyasha?"

She shrugged before taking her purse out. "He left early, but he didn't mention where he was going though."

"Oh…" He tapped his chin in question. _'Where would he be then?'_ He then shrugged his question off. _'Oh well… now Sango, here I come!'_ He smiled as he headed towards her office.

---

"This is good!" Takeo commented as he munched on a muffin. "It looks a bit weird when Kagome was baking it, but I never thought it would that delicious!"

"I agree." Saku smiled before taking another bite of her muffin.

"I heard that!" Kagome's voice echoed from the kitchen. "I may be washing the dishes, but that doesn't mean my hearing is that bad."

The two young immortals chuckled. "Kagome, Kagome…" Saku said.

They both became silent when they heard a key turning from the main door.

"Uh oh." Takeo holds his muffin still as they watched the key turned slowly.

"Let's go!" Saku whispered before they vanished in thin air.

The door opened and in came Inuyasha with the plastic bag in his hand. He furrowed his brow a bit when he heard the sound of running water from the kitchen.

He went inside to investigate and boy, was he shocked by what was happening in front of him. Rin, who was supposed to be sick, was humming an unfamiliar soft tune while washing the dishes gently.

"Saku, Takeo, why are you so quiet all a sudden?"

He didn't say anything, but stared at her back. Her hair was tied up in a pony tail and she was wearing an apron filled with sunflowers designs. For a second there, the image of his mother flashed before his eyes.

The sound of the flowing water stopped and before he knew it, Kagome turned around as she wiped her hands in a white cloth.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Inuyasha! Why are you here at this hour?" _'Those two! They left without saying a word that he arrived!'_

"What are you doing?" He walked over to the table, but stopped abruptly when he sighted a plethora of muffins on it.

"Um… I…"

"You made those?" He asked softly, still gazing at the muffins.

There was something in his eyes that she couldn't decipher. It wasn't anger that for sure, but it was like watching a lost puppy finally found his mother. Happiness wouldn't come close to what she was feeling right now. She was nervous as the silence stretched on. To be honest, she was hoping he would say something, yell, scream, or even a whisper than him being this quiet. It was just plain scary.

So she did something when she was put in this situation—she talked… swiftly. "Yeah I made those. Well, I think you might be wondering why I'm not in bed. I mean I'm not sick or anything. I mean I was, but I'm feeling okay right now. After I heard about what you said last night, I just want to make those for you so—"

"You talked too much." He bluntly interrupted.

Okay, she was hoping he _would_ say something nicer to her than frankly said that.

"I was trying to be nice, and this is what I get," she murmured.

Inuyasha with a blank face walked slowly to her.

Somewhat baffled, yet scared at the same time, Kagome nervously said his name. "Uh Inuyasha?"

He didn't say anything as he came closer to her until he was only a couple of inches away.

If she didn't feel the fast pounding in her heart, then she was lying. All she heard right now was the rapid beating of her heart. She passed the strange feeling away as nervousness.

He stopped as he looked deeply into her eyes. Without realizing it, she closed her eyes in return, afraid that he might yell at her.

"You have something on your nose."

"Huh?" She opened her eyes in bewilderment.

"There." He took his index finger and wiped the white smudge on the middle of her nose. "I think it's flour." He wiped it on her apron before turning swiftly away. He didn't even noticed the blush on her cheeks as he went back to stare at the muffins.

Then he did the one thing that surprised her the most, he turned around and gave her one of his rarest warm smile. "Thank you."

This was the part where people supposed to say "You're welcome," but instead, she gaped in surprise. Luckily, it only lasted for a second. She smiled back as she walked towards the table. "It's not the best muffins out there like your mother's, but I hope you like it."

He blushed as he looked the other way. "Yeah whatever."

'_He actually blushed!'_ Her smiled didn't wavered a bit, but when she saw the plastic bag in his head, curiosity got a hold of her. "What's that?" She pointed at it.

"Oh this?" He put it on the table and unwrapped it. "Well, I thought you had a fever, so I bought you a bowl of chicken congee. But…" He emphasized the last word before continuing. "If you are not sick, then I guess this is a wast—"

Kagome managed a fake cough which didn't go unnoticed by him. "Cough, cough. Yeah I think I need that. Cough, cough."

He should have known. If he mentions any kind of food, she would definitely want it.

Kagome closed her eyes in content when the smell of hot chicken congee filled her nostril. She then opened her eyes in anticipation. "Thank you Inuyasha!" She hopped in two feet and hugged Inuyasha with most of her strength. "That was nice of you!"

"Uh…" A red flush appeared at his cheeks again.

As swiftly as the hug came, she let go of him before making her way to get two bowls. "Let share the chicken congee together and after that, I want you to taste the muffins!"

"Yeah sure…" He whispered as he averted his gaze to the chocolate chip muffins. For once, he's going to eat muffins again. Even though it was not made by his mother, he can't help but smiled at Rin's determination.

…_After a couple of minutes passed by…_

"Well?"

Inuyasha didn't say anything as he continued to munch on the muffins.

"I know it's not exactly like your mother's but… it was the best I can do, so what do you think?"

The only sound that came from him was the soft sound of his chewing.

She frowned. "If you don't like it, just say so. I would rather hear the truth than a lie."

"You want to hear the truth?" He finally responded.

Still unsure, she drawled on her words. "I guess so."

He tossed her one of the muffins. "Try one."

Kagome caught it and looked at it. Even though she made it, she hasn't tried it yet. _'Here goes nothing.'_ She was expected the taste to be bland and without flavor when she took a bite of it, but instead, her tongue was filled with this delicious mixture of chocolate, bread, and a tint of honey. "Hey it is good! I dare say so myself if you don't mind."

Inuyasha chuckled. "Do you want to know something?"

"I hope it's a good thing." She then took a big bite of the muffin.

"The muffins actually taste like the ones that my mother made." He softly replied as he gazed at the mountains ahead.

Her eyes widened in amazement. "Really!"

"Yeah." He quickly glanced at her. "I think her secret ingredient was honey."

Kagome nodded in contentment. _'When I see those two, I should thank them next time.'_

"I was quite surprised that you can bake. For a minute there, I thought the muffins will taste like burnt bread with no flavor."

"Hey!" Kagome slapped him gently on the back. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"It means that although you eat a lot, I mean A LOT, I've never expect you to know how to cook." He then tapped his chin, pondering. "Hmm, but then again, if you eat a lot then you must know how."

"Hmph. And I was about to say, you have a chocolate smudge on your face too."

"Huh? Where!" Inuyasha took a napkin and wiped randomly near his mouth.

"Not telling." Kagome smiled as she took another bite.

"Keh. You're just jealous that my face is handsome." He boasted with his usual trademark smirk.

Kagome laughed. "Yeah you are so handsome Inuyasha that my poor heart can't take it anymore." She replied sarcastically.

"Keh. Whatever." He paused a bit. "Hey, who are Saku and Takeo? You mention their name earlier in the kitchen."

Sweat dropped. "Uhh… it was… a song! Yeah a song!" Kagome cheerfully replied. "Where are you Saku and Takeo?" She sang it off tune.

"That the weirdest song I have ever heard of. But then again, you are weird." He answered quickly before taking another bite of his muffin.

"Hey!"

---

"Is that all she can come up with?" Takeo asked as they watched them from where they were sitting—the tree. "Was a song?"

Saku sighed. "That's Kagome for sure."

**AN:** To be honest, I actually like this new version than the former lost chapter. . I added more to this one than the last one. And for some of you guys who asked if Shippo will make an entrance, he will.

Recommendation: _Love and Marriage_ by Mistress Storm Crow. This is one of those most heartfelt fanfics I have read this month. I nearly cried at some scenes. Mistress Storm Crow knows how to portray each character so nicely that when they cried, you cried along with them, and when they are elated, you can't help yourself from smiling too. In addition, she knows how to mix comedy with drama. One minutes you crying, and the next, you're laughing your butts off. It's a must read for any day! And plus, it's completed!

Anim3-for3v3r: You were actually the first one to guess some of the plots correctly in this chapter. Good eye.


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